The Shell of Selene
by KateB819
Summary: Following the events of "A Few Problems", we find an emotionless Selene, who struggling to maintain her apathy to Leon's death. But what happens when Lucian joins the Death Dealers, and when a vampire from Selene's past tries to get his revenge?
1. Prologue

**FALL OF 1902**

Selene looked up at her old sire. She gulped. He had helped, had he not? She was in a tough situation, and he had bailed her out.

"Selene, my child, what's wrong?" His kind eyes shined down on her.

She met his gaze. "Danny, sir. We have him in our custody. But Milord, he's become uncontrollable."

"In what way?"

"He won't stop killing. The thirst… it's too much for him."

Viktor's orbs shimmered like the full moon in the dark night. "Then you know what must be done."

Her throat closed up on her. _It's not his fault!_

Noticing her hesitation, Viktor frowned at her. "I trust that there are no objections?"

Looking down, avoiding his kind, gentle eyes, Selene shook her head "no."

"You know what must be done," he repeated.

"Yes, milord. I will."

"Banish him. Put him under constant surveillance."

"Yes, sir."

She turned to leave. _It's not his fault! Oh Sir, he's innocent in this! I'm the one who's responsible!_

_I created this monster! It was I who Turned him!_

_And now, now he's killed… killed, fed, and he craves for more…_

_It's all my fault._


	2. Navy Blue, or Black?

"Morning," Michael greeted Selene.

She glanced up. "Hi," she said quietly. This day had been the second day she had slept on her own bed. The seven previous days she had collapsed from staying up at all hours in her office.

"Sleep well?" he asked, helping himself to a packet of cloned blood.

"Yes. No dreams," she commented. _Unfortunately_, she added silently. Ever since she had resolved to feel nothing, the dreams had stopped coming.

"Did you already have some—"

"—Mm hmm," she answered, not making any more eye contact. She had been that way a lot more lately, avoiding the gaze of anyone. Especially Michael.

It wasn't that she was angry with him, or that she blamed him for the death of Leon. But it was the fact that he was gone, her first love, and the fact that they had lost so many crucial members of the Stealth Shooters. Members that had made Selene feel happy at one point or another, and now they just brought pain to her soul.

James and Leon were casualties of that night's raid, but they weren't the only ones. The death toll had become officially one dozen.

And the death toll hadn't stopped there. Now, with so many important people on their team dead or switching sides, their side was vulnerable, and taking on some heavy damage.

"What was the death toll yesterday?" Michael asked, changing the topic in hopes of making Selene speak non-monosyllabic words.

"Five," she answered. She didn't look up from the paperwork she was looking at.

Sighing, Michael tried another course. "Whacha working on?"

Selene put down the paperwork and looked up. "Leon's funeral," she stated softly. They still hadn't held a funeral for his honor. They had already had one for the other dozen who had died that night, including James. But Selene had dragged her feet about Leon's funeral arrangements.

Michael swallowed hard. "Oh," was all he could say. "What, uh… are you…"

"I can't decide," Selene said, addressing his unasked question, "what he should wear." She looked down. "I have everything else taken care of. Coffin type, all that. It's just the outfit I'm struggling with." There were no tears in her eyes as she looked up. This surprised Michael. The Selene he knew would be bawling hysterically by now.

"I can't remember which he liked better, black or navy blue. I know that was his top two, but…" Selene drifted off. She put the stack aside. "Whatever. I still have time." Vampires decomposed a lot slower than humans. They were cold blooded, so their body temperature wasn't much of a factor, leaving the decomposing to slow down.

He nodded. "Yeah, right." He didn't know what to say next. What had happened to the Selene, who at the very mention of Leon's name, would run off and weep for hours on end? Who was this unemotional woman in her place? Would she ever leave?

Selene grabbed the stack again, pen in hand. "Navy blue, it was definitely navy blue," she muttered to herself.

He couldn't take it anymore. He reached out and grabbed her hand, making her look up at him. There was no emotion in her eyes as he stared into the soul of the woman he loved. The icy feel of her gaze sent a shiver down his spine. _What happened to her?_ "What up with you?" he asked.

She shrugged. "What do you mean?"

"Who's funeral are you planning?"

"Leon's." She said it with no emotion, no tears, nothing.

"Right – the first love of your life, the man who was your confidant until recently, when…?"

"When you killed him." Again, indifference, apathy.

Michael's jaw almost dropped open. "What's happened to you? Why aren't you—"

"—crying?" He nodded. She shrugged again nonchalantly. "Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters. I'd like to know why the love of my life has stop feeling, grieving!" He was raising his voice.

She gave him a look like he was being foolish.

"Look, I get what you're doing. You think it's easier just to stop feeling. To stop crying. But it's not. You have to _**grieve**_, Selene. You have to feel."

She rolled her eyes, and that pushed Michael over the edge.

"Why are you closing yourself off to me? Are you mad at me, is that it?"

"No," she answered flatly. "Not at all."

"Then what is it?"

She crossed her arms – not good, since that usually meant that someone was being defensive. Selene never crossed her arms in the 200 years Michael spent with her. "Nothing," she said simply.

He wouldn't accept that answer. "I don't buy that," he said. "And I know that it's hard for you to deal with this pain, but you're gonna have to."

She scoffed. Michael looked deep into her eyes, and saw that wall he had seen all those years ago in that subway station. The wall behind which Selene locked all of her emotions and thoughts.

"Fine," he said, giving up. "Be that way. Be the Ice Bitch everyone thinks you are," he commented, frustrated.

Selene looked at him, and he saw something flash in her eyes – hurt? pain? – and immediately regretted what he'd said. As quickly as that looked appeared, it disappeared, and the stoic, cold Selene came back. "I'm going out for a drive," she said. It was in a normal volume, but it was a hollow, empty statement.

"Selene," he said.

She ignored him. Was she blinking back tears, or was it just his imagination? "I'll have my cell if you need me." She picked up her bag and left.

_Should I follow her?_ he asked himself. He thought better of it and watched her car leave from over the balcony.

* * *

Her gaze ice-cold and her scowl plain on her face, Selene drove her way into town. She wished she knew here she was going, but the truth was, she didn't care. She used to do this a lot before meeting Michael, just drive and drive until either the sun rose or until she got too tired to drive any further. Most people did it because it too their minds off of their problems; Selene did it to get her mind _**on**_ her problems. Her car time was like her therapy time. It was quiet, and she was alone. What more could she want?

"_Be the Ice Bitch everyone thinks you are,_" Michael had said at her. Selene swallowed hard. She didn't want to push Michael away, but she didn't want to feel the way she'd been feeling in the last week, either. Tears came to her eyes as she thought of Leon.

She pushed the thoughts away. _It was navy blue… right_?

_Yes, it was_. He had told her once, long ago. He had been picking out an outfit for some party that night that Kraven was throwing. She had helped, and when she picked a navy blue outfit, he had smiled, commenting that that was his favorite color.

_Navy blue it is, then_. Her throat threatened to close up as tears welled up in her eyes. _Crying will do you no good,_ the Old Selene part of her mind scolded – the part that had taken over after Leon left all those years ago.

She had been a generally warm person before that even though her whole family had been slaughtered. Leon helped her cope with that. Now, who was there to help her cope? Michael?

_He was the one who killed Leon,_ she thought.

_Not his fault,_ another part of her mind responded.

She slammed the steering wheel in frustration. Her problems were too complex for a simple drive to the city to cure.

She pulled up to the curb, and wiped her tears. Suddenly, there was a rapping at her window.

She looked over and couldn't believe who it was. She rolled down her window.

Her voice raspy from getting so worked up in the car, she greeted, "Lucian."

* * *

**A/N:**

**Here's the new story... I know that emotional, soft Selene's popular. Believe me, cold-blooded Selene won't be around for the whole story. I was trying to think of a way to make a new story after this one. I figured it out, and it requires Selene going back to her old, warm ways...**

**Anyway, I really hoped you enjoyed what I've gotten so far. Comments, advice, tips, and feedback, please!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**KATEB819**


	3. Selene's Turnee

"Selene," he greeted back, lips pulled back in a wolfish grin, his pointy canine teeth showing. His hair was shorter than ever, his face clean-shaven. He was wearing black jeans and a dark gray windbreaker. "You okay?"

"Fine," she lied. A sniffle betrayed her false answer.

"Right," he said, unconvinced. "I want to talk to you for a moment."

Unsure of what to do but curious, Selene opened the door slowly. She hesitated, then closed the car door. She followed him into an abandoned alley.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I heard through the grapevine that you did quite some damage to the Death Dealers a week ago." With a nod from Selene to confirm his statement, he continued, "Heard that there was quite a devastating blow to their numbers."

"We both took a hit," Selene said. _Leon… James… even Marc_…

"Mmhmm." He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "But they lost more than you?"

"We lost some very prominent members," she answered. "We lost our head of Weaponry, and… some others."

"Leon?" When she didn't answer, he continued. "Understand, though, that there are strength in numbers. And since you have the upper hand in that division… it means you have the upper hand in the war, no?"

Selene suddenly remembered and saw what he was hinting at. Lucian wanted this war to last for as long as possible… which would be forever, if somebody pulled the puppet strings well enough.

"You're going to kill me?" Emotionless, classic Old Selene.

He scoffed. "Hardly. I don't want you dead; you might be of further use in the future."

"But you do want me out for the count."

"Something like that," he said.

Without another word or any warning, he shoved Selene into the wall, digging his nails deep into her flesh. Not willing to give him the satisfaction of hearing her scream out in pain on the first move, Selene suppressed a scream and kicked him into the opposite wall. She was in the bad part of town, so any noise like the ones they were sure to make wouldn't really be noticed.

Lucian backhanded her and elbowed her chest, knocking her onto the floor. Rolling stealthily, Selene got back up and gave him a blow that sent him reeling backwards. He tripped her, and sprang back up. He picked her up by an arm and flung her into one wall, held onto her, and smacked her into another wall.

Selene punched him twice in the face, then kneed him in the stomach. Then a blade sprang out of his sleeve. _Of course,_ she thought bitterly, cursing him beneath her breath.

He slashed out at her, but she flipped backwards and pivoted to run up the wall, landing right behind him. She gave him a high kick to the face, and whirled around to deliver a second kick to his ribcage.

He slashed at her again, and did cut her arm so that blood was flowing from the wound. Unwilling to let a little blood knock her off her game, she leapt into the air to dodge another slash from him, and came down with a fist. Knocking him to the ground, she picked him up by the arm and went to run him into the wall. He, however, spun out of her hold and slashed her again, this time across the face. Groaning in pain, Selene failed to resist his hold on her as he picked her up, and flipped her into the ground. He picked her up again, and hurled her into the wall, and she came plummeting down onto the concrete ground with enough force to displace part of the ground and wall.

Dizzy, tired, and in pain, she slowly got back to her feet. She tried to feel the warm Corvinus blood flow through her veins, but strangely enough, there was nothing warm in her veins; just the cool vampire blood that had coursed through her veins for the first six hundred years of her immortal existence.

_What's happening_? she panicked. Lucian took the opportunity to push her by the chest through a wall, already weakened, and into an abandoned building.

He placed both of his hands around her neck, tightening his grip. Gasping for air and struggling to break free, Selene failed to break free, since Lucian was placing all of his weight down on her.

_Where'd all of my Corvinus strength go?_ she wondered as she realized Lucian was overwhelming her.

She finally collapsed, unconscious but not dead.

Lucian glanced down on her, wondering if he'd done the job, if he'd succeeded in what he'd hoped to do. He sniffed the air. _Michael,_ he recognized. With no time left to ponder and second-guess, Lucian ran away before he could be caught.

Five minutes earlier, Michael cursed in anger, mostly at himself. Damien, in the passenger's seat, shifted uncomfortably. Had it not just been a week ago that he'd killed Leon savagely?

_But it wasn't his fault,_ he told himself.

"I can't believe I let her go," he growled. "What the hell was I thinking?"

He tried to be reassuring to Michael. "Don't worry so much about it," he said. "I'm sure she's fine."

"I swear, if something happened to her, I'll never forgive myself."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," was all he could think of to say.

Michael sighed. He looked over to his passenger. "Have you noticed anything in the way Selene's been behaving?"

"Just that she's crying a lot." He looked back. "Why?"

Michael shook his head. "I dunno, this morning I woke up, and she was just… apathetic. She was talking about Leon's funeral as if it were the weather. She didn't shed one tear."

"Is that what the fight was about?" Michael had only said that they had a fight, that Selene stormed out, and that was it. Then Damien had brought up the issue that they were all vulnerable right now, her especially, and that's when the two had taken off to find her through their GPS-tracking system. Derek was left behind.

"Yeah," Michael answered. "I called her a…" His voice trailed off.

"A…?"

"An Ice Bitch," he finished sheepishly.

Damien jerked back. "_**What**_? Are you _**kidding me**_?"

Michael shrugged. She was acting like one, and it just… I mean, she was like back before she…"

"Before she met you?"

"Yeah. She was acting like all this death and loss and stuff meant nothing to her. Meanwhile, the current love of her life killed the old love of her life, and she's planning the old lover's funeral."

The car was silent.

All that was heard was the whooshing of the wind. The windows were open, allowing a gentle breeze to blow through Michael's short hair. Suddenly, both men went rigid.

"I-I-Is that…?" Damien began, too stunned to continue.

"Shit," Michael cursed, confirming Damien's unfinished statement. "It's Selene's blood. Lots of it."

He pressed down harder on the gas. He learned a while ago – from Selene – that the people in Budapest didn't really care much about speeding, so long as nobody got hurt. And sometimes not even that.

Following her scent, they sped around the corner, just in time to see some man burst out of a hole of an abandoned building in an alley.

"Lucian?" Michael had been around his sire enough to recognize the sight and scent of him. _Oh God,_ he worried, _what did he do to Selene?_

Tires screeching, he stopped abruptly in front of the alleyway. He saw the hole, jumped out of the driver's seat, and into the alleyway, with Damien right behind him.

Right there in the hole was Selene, unconscious, but alive.

"Oh crap," Damien said as Michael knelt next to Selene. He looked up, tears in his eyes.

"Damien, she's barely breathing." He looked her over quickly. There were marks on her neck to suggest attempted strangulation. She was beat up, bleeding, and bruised.

_She hasn't even healed from the events of a week ago,_ Michael thought. She was healing nicely, but this wouldn't help.

"Blood!" Damien shouted in the silence. "Blood should make her strong enough, so that at least we could get her back to Nueve Esperanza, right?"

Michael nodded, and Damien bolted off towards the car. He came back in a matter of seconds, blood pack in hand. He tossed it to Michael, who caught it and tore it open.

He poured the blood shakily into her mouth, praying that Selene would be fine.

When the blood pack was empty and it had seemed that Selene's body accepted the blood, Michael picked her up and began to carry her to the car.

They were almost there when a voice rang out from behind them, from the shadows of the alley behind them.

"Hey, wait up!"

Michael and Damien slowly turned around. There was a slim, tall man standing there. No, not man – vampire. His scent and hiding spot in the shadows betrayed his nature.

"Who are you?" Michael asked.

The vampire stayed in the shadows. "Selene would know me as Danny… but I go by Daniel now."

"And how would Selene know you?" Damien demanded. _No time for games…_

The man smirked, made a statement, and then went back into the shadows, fleeing before either Michael or Damien could catch up to him.

The statement was short, but clear:

"She was the one who Turned me."

* * *

**A/N:**

**Okay, here's the new chapter. The third chapter should be up very soon. I finished it, but I'm not quite sure I'm happy with it...**

**Anyway, comments and advice are always good. Please provide me with some feedback. I sincerely hoped you enjoyed reading this chapter!**

**KATEB819**


	4. Michael's Favor

Selene woke with a start. Confused as to where she was, she tried to lift her head. But it felt too heavy and it was too hard for her to do, so she just lied back down. Her body ached and she was sore all over. She felt drained, tired, and sleepy. _What happened?_ she wondered, trying to recall the moments before she blacked out.

Slowly, it came back to her. _Lucian._

The whole fight forced its way into Selene's mind.

_Then how'd I get here_?

Eventually, Selene realized that somebody – no, some_** bodies**_ – were sitting at her bedside.

"Selene? Oh, my God, she's up." Michael's voice rang in Selene's head.

She coughed, trying to speak. No voice came out.

Michael lovingly stroked her hair. "Don't try to speak, not yet. Your voice will return, but your throat's very sore and irritated right now."

Damien came into her vision, now. He was handing her some things… a pad? a pen?

"Write what you wanna say," Damien was saying.

Selene took the items from Damien. Now more coherent and alert, Selene began writing.

_What happened?_

"We think Lucian attacked you. Is that what happened? Can you remember?"

_Bits and pieces, but yes, I remember him attacking me. Brief you on the why later._ Selene sat there, wondering what to write next. _Did he escape?_

Michael nodded, unhappy with his own answer. "Yes." He and Damien exchanged looks.

"Selene," Damien said, "we have to ask you some questions. About a guy named Daniel? Or rather, Danny?"

Selene closed her eyes. _Oh God no, no, no, no…._

"Selene?" Selene opened her eyes. Michael's were filled with worry.

Not knowing how to begin, she wrote, _Long story. Tell you later? Tired right now._

Michael and Damien nodded. "It's fine," Michael said. "I'll stay here with you."

Damien left the room silently.

Selene lied there, gathering her thoughts. _Danny, Danny, oh Danny. Please tell me that this is a different Danny…_

Starting on a new subject, Michael spoke. "Selene," he began calmly, "I don't know what's going on with you. I know you're grieving, and I know you miss Leon. To be honest, I miss him, too. But you can't shut me out. I won't let you. Please, you can do anything you want, but don't shut me out."

Selene stared at the ceiling. Her emotionless mask was on again, her eyes dead.

"Selene?" He sighed. "I know that this has been your way to cope. And I know Leon helped you cope, kinda, with the death of your family. So now you need someone else to help you cope. I want to be that person."

Selene didn't so much as blink.

"Fine," he sighed. "Whatever."

Selene pushed back the tears that came to her eyes. She just kept looking at the ceiling, repeating, _It's easier not to feel, it's easier not to feel…_

She eventually nodded off, her body needing much rest in order to heal.

When she came to, Michael was gone and she was alone. She fought back oncoming tears as she remember how she had treated Michael. But she just couldn't let herself give into the privilege of emotions now.

Realizing that her voice worked again (not well, but something was better than nothing), she slowly got up and trudged into the main room of her quarters.

Michael and Damien were sitting there. Even though they stopped all conversation when she opened the door, Selene heard the last bit of their conversation.

Michael: …Thanks for doing this favor for me, Damien.

Damien: You're welcome, Mike.

Then the conversation ended.

They both looked up at her.

"You're up," Michael said. She could see in his eyes a certain kind of sadness, similar to disappointment.

"How long have I been out?" Selene asked. It didn't feel too long for her, but then again, the passage of time was sometimes different in reality.

"Since the last time you were up? Not too long, ten, maybe twenty minutes."

"Oh."

Selene leaned against the wall. Who knew standing could be so tiring?

Damien looked up at her in concern. "Maybe you should lie back down. You need to rest."

"I'm fine," she insisted.

"Yeah," Michael said, half-heartedly. "She's just fine."

Selene rolled her eyes, although it really hurt her that her and Michael were being so cool to each other. _And it's my fault._

"I'm going up to the roof. I need some air."

"I'm coming, too," Damien said. Selene really didn't want him to, but she couldn't think of a way to stop him short of shooting him.

They made their way quietly to the roof. Then they stood quietly on the roof.

Until Damien decided to speak. "Selene," he said, trying to figure out what to say next and how to say it.

"Amie, don't bother."

"Don't bother with what?"

"Don't try to make me _**feel**_, because the truth is, I've given up on that."

"Selene, it's not fair to Michael. Or to anyone else for that matter. It's not _**one**_ person's fault for Leon's death. It's definitely not Michael's, either."

"I never said it was."

"But you've hinted it. You're treating him like shit. You're not talking to him, you're not even looking at him. You may have given up on emotions, but he hasn't." He paused. "And neither have I."

"What are you talking about?"

Damien sighed. "You know I have feelings for you."

Selene shook her head. "You know I don't feel the same way."

Damien stood next to her, stroking her shoulder. She looked into his eyes, and saw a deep affection for her. But she didn't return any.

He didn't care and leaned over, kissing her.

As soon as it started, the kiss ended. Selene pulled away. "Amie, I love Michael, not you."

Damien stood there, not upset by her reaction. "Then why don't you show it?"

"I did – _**do**_."

Damien scoffed. "You do _**not**_. Not since Leon. Selene, you need to—"

"Need to what? Kiss him, hug him, and bat my eyes at him?"

"No, you need to forgive him."

"I already _**have**_."

"You have _**not**_. Stop lying to yourself; everyone sees that you obviously harbor some ill will towards the guy. Stop treating him like a murderer and start treating him like the man you love."

Selene looked down.

"Don't tell me you're doubting that you love him."

Selene didn't say anything. "I don't know anymore. Ever since Leon… it's complicated."

He looked into her eyes and saw a piece of Selene, the Selene he knew. "No, it's really not. When I kissed you, I felt nothing. No doubt, no hesitation, nothing. Just certainty that you would be cheating on Michael in some way. You, Selene, love him without a shred of doubt."

She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering beautifully and wonderfully in the night's light. She swallowed down hard. "I love him."

"You love him." He paused and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Now, go tell him that."

She started to walk away, but turned around. "Thanks, Amie."

Damien smiled modestly. "Just doing a favor for my man Mike."

"That was the favor?"

"What can I say? He was afraid of losing you."

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing he didn't."

"Yeah."

Selene walked away, and once again felt the frozen walls around her heart melt, freeing her soul and sending it straight to Michael. How permanant this was she didn't know.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Okay, here's the third chapter. I'm done with he fourth as well, but I'm still playing around with that one.**

**I hope you liked what you read. Thanks for reading.**

**KATEB819**


	5. Drive By

"Can we go for a drive?" Selene said at the doorway of the main room of her quarters.

Michael looked up. "Sure."

Within ten minutes, they were on the road, on their way to who-knows-where.

The beginning was silent as Selene tried to plan out what she would say.

"I haven't been fair to you, have I?"

Michael didn't say anything, which spoke volumes.

"I've been treating you like it's your fault Leon's dead. And it's not." She cleared her throat, stopping at a red light. "I'm sorry."

He looked over to her. "It's fine."

"No, it's not. It wasn't your fault, and I shouldn't have shut down on you like that. Michael, I love you so much. I don't want to lose you." Green light.

"Me neither. I don't want to lose you, either."

"I know. Damien kinda told me that."

"Ah, right. How'd that go?"

She shrugged. "Pretty good. He got through to me, although I thought the kiss was a little over-the-top."

"Kiss?!"

_Oops, he didn't know about that_… "Uhm, anyway… Are we good?"

"I dunno. Do I have my emotional Selene back?"

"Yep. I can cry and laugh and everything now."

He smiled. "Then we're good."

She smiled back. "Good."

She pulled over next to the warehouse Lucian had attacked her in. "Let's do some investigating," Selene said.

They both got out of the car, and headed towards it.

"Who's Daniel?" Michael asked.

Selene started to answer, but…

"Haven't told him yet?" Danny jumped onto the ground in front of them. It was night now, so shelter was not necessary for the vampire. "How rude."

Selene looked up. _Oh shit, it _is_ Danny. _"Danny."

He glared at Selene. "It's Daniel now. Not Danny."

Selene almost gulped. "What do you want?"

He ignored her. "Tell him. Tell Michael who I am."

Selene looked at Michael nervously.

Daniel came up to Selene, too close for comfort. "_**Tell him**_."

Selene looked right back, meeting his eyes. Her eyes shined, its blue tint glistening. She suppressed her fear. "No."

"No?" Daniel smiled. "Why not? Ashamed?"

"No, But if I'll tell him, I want it to be on my own terms. Not on the terms of a _**murderer**_." Michael reeled back from Selene's last word.

"Murderer," Daniel scoffed. "And look who created it."

Selene couldn't answer.

Daniel backed away, although it seemed like he wanted to kill her on that spot. "Big things are happening," he said dramatically. "Very big. Bigger than you could comprehend. I mean, guess who released me from my unjust prison." He paused. "Lucian. That's right. He's pulling the strings behind this whole thing, and he's just getting started." He walked away, leaving Selene and Michael to ponder whether or not to go after him.

They didn't.

When they had both shaken off the very ominous message from Daniel, Michael asked Selene, "Who is he? What did he mean that you created him?"

Selene swallowed hard. This was not going to be an easy conversation, but it was one that they needed to have.

"Sit down, Michael. This'll be a long story."

Michael did. He sat down on some abandoned furniture.

Selene didn't even know where to begin. But she knew she had to. "Michael," she began, "do you remember how I said that immortals need to feed, or their urges could overpower their self-control?"

Michael nodded.

"In the fall of 1902, back when Viktor was still awake," she continued, "there was a mission. I was sent there – alone – and it didn't go well. The Lycans went after me in public, and I lost a lot of blood. Back then, there was no blood inhalers, or cloned blood handy. We still had animal blood, and that was obviously rarer than human blood. So I… I needed to feed, or…"

"Or you'd have died." Michael's eyes said that he understood. He was often helping out in the hospital wing, so his grasp of an immortal's limitations were pretty good.

"Yes. So I fed."

Selene couldn't quite bring herself to continue. "On Daniel," Michael said for her, giving her an easy way out.

"Yeah," She looked down. "I immediately realized it was wrong, so I stopped. I didn't kill him, but he Turned. He ran away from me before I could explain anything to him or stop him." She took a deep breath, since she hadn't even gotten to the worst part. "Michael, vampires and Lycans are different when they're first Turned. Lycans don't develop an urge to feed until their first full moon. But vampires, on the bother hand, kill almost as soon as they're Turned," she explained. "Luckily, when I was turned, Viktor had cattle blood ready. But Danny didn't have that."

"What happened?" he asked gently.

"He went home, the only place his body would take him. It was like he was on autopilot, like in the movie _**Click**_?"

Michael gave her a blank look.

"Ah, never mind. It's a Kate Beckinsale thing…" She continued, shaking off Damien's influence. "He went home… and he…" She looked away from Michael, unwilling to look at him. "He slaughtered his wife, parents, and his daughter."

Michael gaped at her. "He did _**what**_?"

Selene still wouldn't look at him. "When he realized what he'd done, he was devastated. The Death Dealers found him in his house from his scent. We covered up the mess." She paused, looking at Michael again. "Actually, it was Viktor who covered up the mess." She looked fond, for a second, of the thought of Viktor. Then she continued. "We invited him to stay with us, but now that he had gotten the taste of blood, he couldn't live without it. He couldn't control himself."

Michael looked down. "Then it wasn't really his fault, was it?"

"No, but he and I were the only ones who believed that. Danny blamed me." Selene sighed. "_**I**_ blamed me. But Viktor wouldn't hear of it. He said – and his word was law – that it was not my fault and it was Danny's."

"And Danny wasn't happy abut that."

"No, he was pissed." Selene snorted. "He tried to kill me a few times." She shook her head. "But between Kraven and Viktor being overprotective, he stopped after a few failed attempts."

"What eventually happened?"

"He started killing too many people, to the point of where we couldn't cover his tracks anymore. The humans began catching on. We had to put a stop to it."

"And?"

Selene met his eyes. "Viktor had me banish him."

"Like you banished Tanis." His voice was sharp.

"Michael, I didn't have a choice. Disobeying Viktor…"

"**You** did it for _**me**_. God, Selene, it wasn't even this guy's fault." His voice was filled with disappointment.

Selene got defensive. "It needed to be done. I wasn't happy about it, but if I didn't, he would've killed someone and tipped the humans off about our existence. We couldn't afford that."

Michael shook his head. "So you banished this guy for something that wasn't even his fault? How is that right?"

"I didn't really give a shit about what was right," she snapped. "I was more concerned with whether or not this guy would cause me and all of the people I cared about to die at the hands of a human mob." She got up and started to leave the building. "But guess it shouldn't have mattered, right? As long as I did what was _**right**_."

She stormed out of the building, leaving Michael behind. But he wouldn't give up there.

He grabbed her arm. "Hey," he said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to suggest—"

Immediately, Selene felt bad. Her own insecurities and screwed-up past with Viktor shouldn't have been taken out on him.

She sighed. "No, I'm sorry." She smiled. "I honestly think that I need some serious therapy."

Michael gave a little laugh. "No more than I do. We can be dysfunctional people together."

Selene chuckled and gave him a hug.

He sighed and pulled away. "Okay, I get what you were saying. This guy was bad news. But maybe, now…"

Selene shook her head a little. "I doubt it, Michael. This guy blames me for the death of his family, and for the death of everyone he's killed." Her voice got softer. "And maybe I _**should**_ be blamed."

Michael stroked her cheek affectionately. "That's bull. It's neither your fault or his." He paused, and gave her a short kiss on the cheek. "Who knows? Maybe he isn't out to hurt you. Maybe he just wants… some peace."

But then, as if on cue, a gunshot rang out.

Everything happened so fast…

There was the sound of the gunshot. Michael acted instinctively, but Selene's reflexes were faster. Realizing that the gunshot was meant for Michael, she jumped in front of him.

Next thing he knew, Selene was lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to her chest. Michael looked around, kneeling down to her aid. "Who the fuck was that?" he muttered.

Selene gasped through the pain. "It's Danny…"

"How do you know?" he asked, trying to stop her bleeding.

Selene was peering over his shoulder. Michael turned around.

Danny was standing there with a satisfied look on his face. He smiled, then made a rude gesture and left. Michael was going to go after him, but thought better of it.

He turned back to help Selene.

"No," Selene protested weakly. She was losing a lot of blood. "I'm fine."

Michael objected. "You are _**not**_."

"Get him," she ordered.

"Hold still. You're losing too much blood too—"

Then, too quick for him to register anything in his mind, Selene passed out.

"Selene? Selene?!" Michael was frantic now, checking her pulse, seeing if she was breathing, trying to stop her from losing more blood, and watching his back to make sure Danny wouldn't come back.

And somewhere, far, far away, Selene's mind was wandering, her soul fading.


	6. Absolutely the Last Drive

Once the bleeding stopped, and Michael was reassured that Selene wasn't going to die anytime soon, he did what she herself had done over two centuries before for him.

Selene stirred. "Michael?"

"Shh," he soothed. "You're going to be fine. But let's try to keep you conscious, all right?"

Selene moaned.

Michael sighed. He knew she must have been in a lot of pain, and was doing a great job at concealing it. He hadn't removed the bullet. _First she needs enough strength to deal with the pain,_ he reasoned. _It she passes out from the pain of me… doing what I need to do, then she might not ever wake up._ And that was a reality he was not prepared to deal with.

Countless times over the two centuries she had scared him, either by being kidnapped, or just receiving large, grotesque wounds. And each time the reality hit him that, in spite of _**what**_ she was called, immortality was not among her various abilities.

"Look," he said quietly. "You need to drink from me." _Again,_ he added silently.

Selene made a noise that sounded like a groan and a refusal.

"You need to." He sighed. "I'm not letting you die here. I'm not giving you a choice. When was the last time you fed? Too long ago."

Selene eyelids fluttered, and for one horrible second, Michael thought she'd conked out again. But she forced them to remain open.

He cut his wrist with a fingernail, and placed it in front of her mouth. The cut stung, and the blood coming from it smelled sweet and scrumptious. But Selene wouldn't drink.

_How stubborn _is_ this woman_? "Selene," he pleaded. "Come on."

"I'll be fine without it," she insisted. Her voice was just audible.

He rolled his eyes, bringing his wrist closer. "Would you stop acting like the macho-man in this relationship and _**drink the damn thing**_?"

Selene smiled a little, and reluctantly brought her lips to his wrist. She began to drink.

Unlike him, who had visibly had problems detaching from the wonderful taste of Selene's blood centuries before, Selene seemed to have no issues with pulling away. Michael was impressed, and a bit surprised as to how much control she had over her thirst. _Maybe she _had to_ learn how, after Turning Daniel…_

"Feel better?"

Selene nodded. She knew what he had to do next.

"Okay, look," he tried to explain coolly, but it came out sounding like he was that medical intern back when she had first met him. "I'll try to make this as painless as possible, but…"

"Just do it," she said. It was not an angry remark, or a snippy comment. "I trust you."

Michael smiled down at her. She had come so far from being a cold, removed person.

Taking a deep breath, Michael's fingernails grew out into his Hybrid nails. It had taken him a while to get used to doing this without changing completely, but with Selene's help, he had learned how to.

Not closing her eyes or even flinching, Selene watched as Michael reached towards her wound. He hesitated.

"This is very anticlimactic," she remarked. She flashed him an uneasy smile. "Sometime while I'm still in my 800s? I won't stay this young forever, you know."

This relaxed Michael a bit, knowing that she was willing to joke with him at a time like this.

He took another deep breath, and plunged his fingers in, and Selene let out a loud gasp of pain. Any humor from the previous moment had been lost.

He reached around, and Selene closed her eyes, biting her lower lip, willing herself not to scream out loud. After all, what good would screaming do?

_Probably a lot._ He tried not to get flustered, but it was kind of hard not to when he was performing surgery on his lover with his **own** _**nails**_.

He went deeper, trying to ignore Selene's now bleeding lip, and the tears that were building in her eyes.

Michael's heart pounded in his ears. What if he couldn't retrieve the bullet? Would Selene be suffering for nothing?

He pushed those thoughts away and pushed his fingers deeper into the wound.

"Fuck," he heard Selene curse. She had now given up on biting her lip and was now resorting to pounding her fist deep into the concrete she lay on. Pieces of it were now protruding from the rest of the ground.

_Found it!_

He pulled it out with his nails, trying hard not to drop the slippery thing. The whole even had only lasted seconds, but it seemed like hours to the both of them.

Finally out of the wound, Michael dropped the bullet onto the ground.

Selene let out a sigh of relief. "Great, now with that out of the way," she finally said, trying to create a more pleasant atmosphere, "I can pass out and not wake up for a few decades."

Michael gave her a blank look.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who needs to lighten up," she said. She tried to sit up, but the notion sent her a bit of pain in her chest.

Michael stroked her arm gently. "Don't push yourself."

"I wouldn't normally – okay, yeah, I would – but we've got people who love to see us dead, and we're lying right in the middle of the open."

Michael sighed. "Good point." He swooped her up in his arms, mindful of her current wound. He carried her over to the car. "Oh, and by the way," he said, lying over the backseats, "this is _**absolutely the last time**_ I am going out on a drive with you."

"You got it," she answered back.

When Michael pulled up I front of the door of Nueve Esperanza, he picked her up and carried her inside. Damien was the only one in the lobby.

"Oh, come on!" he shouted when he saw Selene's wound. "How many times have I told you two that if you're having a rough patch _**not**_ to let gunplay get involved?" He grinned, since she appeared to be okay.

"We'll try to keep that in mind next time," Selene responded good-humoredly.

Michael carried Selene into the dojo, where Derek and one of the "old" Death Dealers, who had followed Selene over, were sitting. Michael placed her on the couch, allowing her to lie down.

"Derek, Simon," Selene greeted. Simon, who was a slim (after all, who'd heard of a fat, _**good**_ vampire?), tall vampire, was almost as good-humored as Damien. Simon was well aware of the fact that Lycans were responsible for the death of many of his Death Dealer comrades, but had followed Selene over anyway.

He had always stuck out to her because of that fact.

"Selene," they both greeted, a bit cautiously.

"What happened?" Damien asked, following the pair in.

"Danny," Selene answered.

Simon jumped. "Shit, so then the rumors are true."

"Yeah."

"Wait," Michael interrupted. "Simon, you know Danny?"

Simon looked insulted. "I've been around since the time of _**Leon**_, Mike. Yes, I know Danny."

Indicating Simon, Selene explained, "Simon was actually part of the team that… err, banished Danny. Weren't you, Si?" The "Si" was pronounced like "sigh."

Simon nodded.

Derek held up a hand. "Before we go any further," he announced, "I've been talking to Simon. I think he'd make a great …replacement… for Marc. Don't you?" He obviously struggled over the use of "replacement," but that was the only word that fit.

Selene nodded her agreement. "Of course."

"I agree," Michael said.

Simon beamed. "Thanks, guys."

Michael turned to face Selene. "Selene," he said. "Why did Lucian attack you?"

_Forgot to tell them,_ she remembered.

Selene cleared her throat. "Well, you know how Lucian wants to keep the war – any war – going? That way neither side gets enslaved?" _Which, honestly, is none of his business. He shouldn't be playing God_…

Michael nodded. All eyes were on her.

"Apparently he believes that we're the winning side right now."

"And he wants to fix that?" It was Si who spoke.

_Already filling in his position well,_ Selene noticed. "Yes. And his idea of doing that, of equating the two sides, is to take me out of the running."

"Why not Derek? Or me?" Michael's eyebrows furrowed together.

Selene shrugged. "I don't understand Lucian's mind. Only that he believes he is justified. And once he puts his mind to something, he won't stop until it's done."

"What makes you think that?" Si asked.

"He plotted revenge for six hundred years," Derek pointed out. "And it seems like he's still pulling the puppet strings."

Selene shook her head. "I'm going to bed," she announced. "I'm still tired, and my brain works much better when I've had my Z's."

Michael nodded. "I'll stay up a little later."

Selene headed up to bed, hoping and praying silently that her dreams of Leon would return.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Sorry it took so long to get this one up... It's been ready for day now, but I've been too busy to.**

**Anyway, really hope you enjoyed reading it! Thanks to anyone who's submitted a review on it, and all of you who've read it.**

**KATEB819**


	7. Breakthrough

"_Selly… Selly…" Leon's warm, welcome voice rang into Selene's ears._

"_Oh, Leon."_

_He embraced her from behind. On the balcony, their spot. It had always been their spot, and even in death, that would never change._

_Not even in death._

_He held her, squeezed her just enough. "Missed you last coupla nights," he purred._

_She pulled on him, making him hold her tighter. "Same here."_

"_What happened?" She could tell he frowned; she just _knew_ he did._

"_Oh, Leon. It hurts so much without you." She let the weight of the world, of her sadness, fall away._

_He affectionately kissed her on the cheek. Who knew a kiss could be so innocent? "Why?"_

_She leaned further into his embrace. "You were my first love."_

"_But I'm not your last." He paused, looking deep into her eyes. He saw her fear, her pain, her sadness, and her inexplicable loneliness. "Don't let me be."_

_Selene sighed. "It seems like Michael's slipping away from me."_

"_Don't let him. Don't push him away from you."_

"_Why not?" she asked through clenched teeth. "He pushed _you_ away from _me_."_

_Leon suddenly let go, making Selene stumble backward._

"_Leon?"_

_He began to fade away into the shadows, but his voice remained. "Selene, remember your fight with Lucian? Your Corvinus strength…" His voice began to fade away now. "…it lies in your…"_

_Then it stopped._

Lies in what?

"_Leon!" Selene screamed his name repeatedly, but nothing ever changed. Just a black abyss where he had been standing. She screamed until the sobs came, and then…_

She woke up. Selene looked around. She was in her bedroom, her bed. And she was _**crying**_.

Selene forced herself to stop, and when the last of her sobs were gone, she rose from her bed and went to the bathroom. There, she removed any proof she had been crying. Now sure that she wasn't going to be able to sleep that day, Selene went back down to the dojo, where Michael was.

"You're up?" Simon asked.

"Yeah, Si. Couldn't sleep."

Michael asked, "Bad dream?"

"No," Selene lied. Michael looked at her funny, like she had two heads or something.

"You okay?"

"Fine," she lied again. She tried to tell the truth, but she had fallen back into the habit of hiding her emotions.

It wasn't a conscious habit, but it was the way she had always been, ever since Leon had left her. Leon had put a stop to it after the death of her family, but after he'd left, there seemed to be no reason to let herself be vulnerable.

Besides, every time she looked at Michael, she remembered how Leon was no longer with her, no longer able to comfort her or make her smile.

Truth was, Michael had never made her smile, not the way Leon did… or the way Damien did.

_Damien?_ she wondered to herself. _How'd that get in there?_

Shaking off her confusion, she sat down. "What going on?" she asked no one in particular.

It was Damien who answered. "Nothin'." He smiled and walked into the room. He had been in the break room, which was next-door to the dojo. "Just watching a movie."

"What movie?"

"_Laurel Canyon_. Guess which part."

"Either the pool scene, or the room scene."

"Ha, the first one." Selene had to smile at Damien then. Anytime he popped in that movie, it was a sure thing that he'd be watching one of the two strip/lesbian kiss scenes.

"Perv," she teased.

"I'm hurt, really." He walked back into the break room.

Selene kept smiling. Her bantering with Damien was always an enjoyment to the both of them.

"So you're fine?" Michael asked.

Selene's smile involuntarily faded. "Yes." Her voice was once again unemotional. It was so cold that it even unnerved her. What had happened? Damien had said that she still blamed Michael for Leon's death. She said she had forgiven him. Had she?

Michael looked hurt. "Selene," he asked quietly, "can I speak to you in private?"

Selene swallowed. "Sure." Pure confidence, betraying nothing of the turmoil going on inside her.

He pulled her outside, where they were alone. Simon looked down as they left, sheepishly.

"What the hell is going on with you?" he asked. She looked into his eyes and saw sadness. Sadness that she had caused.

She crossed her arms – once again, defensively. "I don't know what you're talking about." _What the _fuck_ are you doing_? Her mind demanded.

But the Old Selene took over, and the New Selene could do nothing about it.

"Selene, I thought we went over this already," he sighed. "What happened?"

"Look," she snapped, "back off." She regarded him coolly. "Don't make trouble where there is none."

"And don't ignore trouble where there is an abundance," he retorted.

Selene scoffed and stalked off. Her mind told her to walk back and apologize, but her body kept on walking.

"Selene!" he called.

She turned around reluctantly. "What?"

He was about to say something, thought better of it, and walked away. _Whatever,_ she thought, trying not to let it bother her.

Even if it did.

She went up to her safe haven – the roof.

Selene wasn't surprised when Damien showed up not five minutes later.

"Don't bother," she said as soon as she sensed his presence.

He paused, perhaps taken aback by the sharpness of her tone, the coolness of her voice. But after a moment or so, he kept walking. "I'm here of my own free will," he claimed.

"Michael didn't send you?"

"No," he said innocently.

_Right_. She didn't believe that for a second.

"Look," he said gently, "what's up? I could tell as soon as you walked in something's up with you."

"Nothing," she replied angrily. "Why does everyone assume something is up?"

"Because you're acting like a bitch," he said immediately.

Selene shook her head and began to walk around him towards the exit. He held her fast, turning her around.

"You're hurting me," she growled.

He let go, remorse on his face. "Sorry," he apologized. "But you _**need**_ to hear this." He sighed. "You need to be honest."

"Fine," she stated, crossing her arms. "But if I'm gonna be, so do you."

He was puzzled. "About what?"

"One thing – did Michael send you?"

He gulped, but nodded.

"That's all," she said. "Pieces to the puzzle."

Damien sighed, and they both sat down on the roof.

"What's going on?" he asked quietly. "You were fine when you went to bed."

Selene sighed, unsure of whether or not to tell him. But she needed help, and what's more, she _**wanted**_ help. "I had a dream," she stated. "Of Leon."

She paused, and Damien tried to help her continue. "What was it about?"

"It wasn't much. It was just us back on my old balcony in Ordoghaz, where we used to hang out. And he was trying to help me out with Michael, I think. And he said…"

"What's he say?" Damien asked when she stopped.

"He said something about my Corvinus strength."

"What about it?"

_Didn't tell them about my fight with Lucian_, she realized. "When I was fighting Lucian, I tried to feel the Corvinus strength, his power flow through my veins. But I couldn't feel it. I only felt my vampiric blood. And that wasn't equal to Lucian's power."

Damien looked thoughtful for a moment. "What did… Leon say about it?"

"He said that it lies in my… _**something**_. The dream ended there."

"Huh."

"Bad timing, as usual," she commented, smiling.

He smiled, too, but it faded. He spoke the thought that had occurred to Selene earlier, but never had the courage to voice. "You haven't forgiven Michael, have you?"

Selene took a deep breath. She tried to maintain her composure, but was failing miserable. She was only one step away from crying hysterically.

"Have you?" he repeated softly. It wasn't a question this time.

Selene tried to say "no." Tried to say anything at all. But she said it best when she said nothing at all.

"Answer me," Damien prodded gently. "Have you forgiven Michael for killing Leon?"

Silence.

And then the tears came, pouring out of Selene like never before. Not even on the night that changed her life, where she discovered the shells of her loved ones, did the emotions run like waterfalls in a desolate island.

Selene's shoulders shook, and her body was racked with uncontrollable sobs. Damien put his arm around her, giving her nothing but space and support at the same time.

"I miss him so much," he heard from the jumble of things she was trying to say but was lost among the falling tears.

"Yeah, I know," was all he could think of to say.

"Leon… he's gone…" she was still crying, unable to stop herself.

Damien suddenly realized that Selene had never really let herself _**feel**_ the death. She had mourned it, grieved for him and her loss, but never felt the emotions that one needed to feel to get closure.

"Don't hold back," he prompted quietly. He was holding her, rocking her to comfort her.

And she wasn't. She was just letting it all out, finally feeling and embracing the pain that followed Leon's death. Tears were rolling down her beautiful face like the sun's rays over a breath-taking landscape. Her body shook from her weeping and her sorrows.

It seemed that hours passed when Selene finally was all cried-out, no longer able to express her pain through tears. Damien continued to hold her anyway, until the last of the shakes were gone and she wasn't gasping for air anymore. Her eyes were puffy from the tears shed, her throat sore from the cries uttered from her lips.

Sunrise came when either of them finally stirred. The golden rays swooped over Selene, bathing her in light and warmth. There was a gentle summer breeze, blowing her hair in a gorgeous sight.

"Amie," she finally murmured, her voice raspy.

"Mm?"

"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much."

Damien held her tighter. "Think you're okay, now?"

Selene let him go, and he allowed her to.

"I can keep holding on, if you want," he joked.

Selene smiled, and in the light it looked stunning. "No, that's okay," she responded. "But I appreciate what you did for me just now. I don't think anyone else has ever done something like that for me before."

Damien smiled. "Go," he said. "Go to Michael."

"I don't know how I can ever repay you," Selene said as she began to walk away.

Damien put up a hand as if to say, "No, thank you." He grinned as she retreated back into the shadows of Nueve Esperanza.

After the events of last night, his object of admiration could be valued much more from far away.

Michael could have Selene; Damien would always have the memory of holding her in his arms in her time of need, and that was more than enough.

* * *

**awwww, lol.**

**I'll put up one more chapter after this tonight... I have the eight one ready, too, but I'm still playing around with it.**


	8. The Talk

Selene couldn't help but feel exhausted, both mentally and physically, by the time she reached her quarters.

And to think, the real challenge hadn't even begun, yet.

Selene stepped through the doorway, unsure of what to say, or how to even begin. How do you say to the man you love that you think that they're a homicidal beast?

_Start by telling a joke,_ she thought good-humouredly. _Why did the Vampire cross the road?_

_Because they were Lycan it on the other side._

Selene smiled at her own thought. At least keeping some sense of humor, even within her mind, ensured that apathy would not be an issue in this conversation.

Michael was sitting there on the couch, just staring at the wall. He looked up. "Hi," he said uncertainly, not sure of which Selene he'd get now.

"Hello," she gulped, still trying to figure out what to say. _By the way, I just had a meltdown on the roof, and it's because I think you're a murderer…_

"What's up?" he asked patiently.

_The sky_, she thought wittingly. "Nothing," she answered out loud. "Just wanted to talk," she began. "But I don't know where to start."

"Take your time," he answered sweetly. "I can wait."

_But I don't think _I _can._ "You killed Leon," she began, not being harsh or accusatory.

"Yes," he said, sounding remorseful.

"I said I forgave you for that," she said. "But I didn't."

"Yeah, I kinda got that feeling when you started snapping at me again today."

Selene looked hurt. "I know, I'm sorry."

"What the heck happened? When you went to bed, you were fine."

"I had a dream about Leon," she confessed. "Every time I've had one, my resentment towards you has just grown."

"And you had one last night."

"Yes," she clarified.

"And that answers for why you acted like a bitch to me before?"

Selene flinched from his word choice and tone, but understood the motivation behind them. "No," she said slowly, "no, it doesn't."

Michael sighed.

"I… I hadn't forgiven you, yet," she continued awkwardly. "I still blamed you for Leon's death."

"I notice you say 'blamed', past tense" Michael observed.

"I have forgiven you now, Selene explained. "I should have before, and I'm so sorry I didn't."

Michael didn't say anything.

Selene sat down next to him, and took a deep breath. "When my family died, I thought I'd never get over it. I thought Leon helped me to, but the truth is that I don't think he did. He just suppressed it. But when I met you," she smiled at him, "you helped me get closure." She sighed and shook her head sadly. "It was mixture of why I didn't open up to you. A mix of my family being slaughtered by the man I thought as a sort of father to me, and a mix of the fact that the one man I truly loved after that event leaving me out of the blue. I really did love him, Michael, I did." She held back the tears that threatened to come, but then realized she couldn't and let the tears wash down her cheeks.

Michael didn't appear to be jealous or angry at this fact. In fact, ever since he "hit puberty," as Damien referred to it, Michael had been very even-tempered and calm. He had been very patient with Selene throughout her emotional outbursts and mental breakdowns.

Selene sniffled, wiping away some tears. "But I shouldn't have taken out my grief and feelings on you. That was wrong of me, and I apologize."

Michael gave her a hug, and she squeezed back.

His lips brushed hers, and he pulled away, perhaps afraid that she was still an emotional wreck.

But she wasn't, and she held his head and brought his lips to hers. He got the message, realizing that she was ready to go back to the passionate relationship they were sharing before there was baggage in the way.

He kissed back hard, and Selene kissed him back twice as hard. He moved on down to her neck, and she tilted her head to expose the tender flesh.

That night was not spent in erotic ecstasy. It was a night that brought two souls together and gave them well-deserved pure bliss. Selene and Michael never wanted the night to end, but when it did, they merely slept in each other's arms. Breathing and enjoying their partner's warmth, comforted by their mate's presence, they spent the morning in a world they created for themselves.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Like I said previously, I have the next chapter ready, but a lot of things happen in it, and I needed to make sure I worded everything well...**

**I hope you liked this one. Very short, I know, but the next one is kinda longer than my average length, so it should make up for it.**

**Feedback welcome, as always.**

**KATEB819**


	9. This Week Sucks

The night following, Selene couldn't help but wonder why she wasn't having crying fits.

After all, it was the night of Leon's funeral.

Selene had planned it to be at about 2 o'clock in the morning, simply because by then all of the missions should be over and there would still be time to tie up loose ends if need be. The mansion buzzed with activity, and while a lot of people were pulling their hair out over "what to wear, what to wear," or "will we be on time," Selene was relatively calm. She directed people on what to wear and what time to get to the gravesite by.

Most fallen comrades got a grave in the property behind Nueve Esperanza, a tradition done by the Death Dealers that she'd decided to keep. But Selene had decided that Leon was special, and gave him his own gravesite _**in front**_ of the mansion. James had also been buried there.

Michael came up behind Selene and squeezed her shoulders affectionately. "You okay?" he asked her.

She kissed him from behind her. "Fine," she said sincerely. _For once._

The truth was, she didn't really need this, but she knew that this was the least Leon deserved.

Derek came up behind Selene.

"Bad news," he said sheepishly.

"What?" Selene asked, her positive mood dropping in her question.

"Uhm… we picked up a _**black**_ suit for Leon. Is that okay?"

Selene swallowed hard. _Do I wanna make a big deal out of this?_

_Yes._ "Well," she said, "this is one of the few things I'm gonna have to be picky about…"

"Do you want me to send someone to go back into the city to get another one?" Michael asked.

"No," she decided. "I'll go myself."

"Why?" asked Derek.

"Because," Selene explained as she got her car keys, "if the person you send screws it up, by the time we get it right, it'll be dawn." She picked up her gun and FP. "I'm not prepared to risk Si turning into a pile of ashes. We just replaced our weapons' man." She opened the front door. "You all start heading out in a few minutes. This shouldn't take too long."

Michael nodded, and so did Derek.

Adam came running up behind them, and grabbed Selene before she could leave. "Let's run a check-up," he suggested. "This will be the first time you're going on a trip this long alone since you've been injured."

"I'm just going to get Leon's jacket," she insisted. "I doubt I'll pass out on the way to the car. I'll be fine."

Adam grinned at her. "Can't be too careful."

After getting some routine check-up tests, Adam went to look them all over and left Selene alone in the room. When he returned, his face was a pastier white and his eyes were as wide as they could get.

"Adam?" Selene was worried.

"Selene," he stammered, "uhm… I dunno how to tell you this, but…" His voice drifted off.

"Adam," Selene said, bringing him back.

"Selene," he sighed, sitting down, "the good news is that you can make this trip, no problem. But… you're pregnant."

Selene didn't know what to say except for, "You're sure?"

"Yes. I caught a glimpse of it in one test, but it was confirmed in another. You're pregnant." He shook his head. "And what's more, it's developing at an exponential rate. I bet by tomorrow I could already determine the sex of the baby."

"What?"

Adam explained, "Well, I usually wouldn't be able to detect a pregnancy this early on in those tests that did. It'd have to be longer into the pregnancy. Yet I did, with you." He looked straight into her eyes. "Selene, your baby – and Michael's baby – is developing very quickly. It could be out in almost half the time of a normal pregnancy."

Selene gulped. _A baby…?_ Her mind whirled at the fact, but was beginning to welcome it.

"I'm gonna go tell Michael now," he said.

"No," she shouted at him.

"Why not?" he asked, clearly puzzled by her reaction.

"Because," she said. "Tonight is Leon's funeral. Once I tell him, we'll associate our… baby with Leon." It was odd saying "baby," but even more peculiar saying it in the same sentence as "Leon." "I don't want that."

Adam nodded his understanding.

"I'm gonna go and pick up Leon's suit," she announced, changing the subject.

"Fine."

In five minutes, she was out the door and on her way to the city. Unfortunately, she forgot that it was an ungodly hour, and the store was now closed.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath.

A voice came from behind her. "Aw, that sucks."

_Danny_, she recognized. Out loud, she said, "Danny… Daniel."

"And I'm not alone," he said.

Selene could tell from the scent. "Lucian."

Lucian and Daniel stood out from the shadows. "Yes," he confirmed.

Danny moved fast, holding out a knife against her stomach. "Shoulda taken someone with you," he teased.

Selene gulped. _Now I'm not just concerned with one life,_ she remembered, _I'm concerned with two…_

Lucian gave her a funny look. "Something wrong? You actually look scared. What happened to the stoic warrior?"

Selene looked down. Would telling the truth do anything? _Here goes…_

"I'm pregnant," she said. "Just found out less than half an hour ago."

Daniel scoffed. "Bull." He looked over at Lucian, who wasn't so quick to dismiss Selene's statement. "Come on, Lucian! She's BS-ing us, big time!"

Lucian ignored Daniel. "I thought something was different about you…" he muttered.

Daniel was flabbergasted. "What? Lucian, it DOESN'T MATTER! So what if she's pregnant?! We still have to off her… right?"

Lucian looked thoughtful. Obviously, he was stuck between continuing with him plan, or being merciful.

_Just like Viktor wasn't_, Selene remembered.

Daniel still held a knife to her stomach.

"Let her go," Lucian finally ordered.

"No," Daniel objected. "Maybe you don't have the balls to go through with this, but _I_do."

Lucian barked at him, "You dumb ass, let her go!"

Before Lucian could do much else, Daniel stuck the knife deep into Selene's stomach, shocking both her and Lucian.

Selene gasped out from surprise and pain, and retaliated with a blow to his face.

Caught between wanting to kill Selene and his anger at Daniel, Lucian fled.

Daniel picked himself up, and upon realizing that he was now alone and his chances of winning were slim, he looked around and screamed, "Reinforcements!" and fled, too.

The next thing Selene knew, over a dozen vampires leapt from the rooftops around the store, surrounding her.

Selene's stab wound was nothing special, but still she was unsure if she could handle her foes.

Two came at her fast, but she ducked their blows and tripped them. As they fell, another three came after her, hissing. Selene knocked them all back with a kick. The others now began drawing out their guns, and Selene decided to get out her FP. She booted it up within seconds, as her enemies began shooting at her. She dodged **most** of them, taking two bullets in the back.

Unwilling to let them faze her, she hurled her FP, Frisbee-style, killing five vampires in one shot. It came back to her, but before she could throw it again, a Death Dealer came up behind her and shot her in the chest.

Luckily, it missed her heart by a bit, and Selene took the opportunity to knee the vampire in his groin, and snap his neck in his moment of weakness. _Six down…_

They shot at her again, but instinct allowed her to evade each shot. Selene leapt high above them, onto the roof. _My Corvinus powers must be back,_ she thought.

But her celebrating would have to wait; one of the Death Dealers chucked a grenade up on the roof where she was standing. Selene jumped to safety, onto the ground below, right where her adversaries were waiting for her. There was about eight left.

Warm, pure power coursed through Selene's veins once again, and Selene used it to her advantage. Moving faster than these mere vampires could ever hope to, she kicked one high off the ground, and he landed with a sickening thud, his bones shattering.

One took her by surprise and knocked her over the head with the butt of his gun. Selene whipped out her FP once again, its blade slicing through three vampires' flesh like butter.

_Five left…_

Selene dodged a flurry of attacks from another one, and responded with an elbow to his face, breaking his nose. She brought out her trusty gun, and fired a shot right in the middle of his two eyes.

The other four ganged up on her, taking shots at her. She eluded the majority of them, but another three bullets found their way to her back. She fell to the ground, her energy beginning to give out. On the floor, she pulled one vampire out from under his feet, and got back up, standing on his neck. She twisted her boot until she heard a satisfying crack.

But once again, her situation of being out-numbered weakened her. One gave her a powerful blow to her stomach, right where Danny had stabbed her. Groaning in pain, Selene went flying into a brick wall, and her vision blurred. Her head spun as the three vampires ganged up on her, giving her kicks while she was down.

Selene fought the welcoming unconsciousness. Just then, a familiar scent filled Selene's nose – _Michael!_

Her pain was lessoned at the sound of his voice ringing in the street. "Get the fuck away from her!"

Two of her assailants were launched into the air by him, and Selene dealt with the last accordingly. She shot him right in the chest three times.

Michael had changed into his Hybrid form, and had ripped the head off of one of the two remaining Death Dealers.

Selene went to finish off the other one. She aimed her gun at his face, and the Death Dealer could do nothing but stare into the eyes of his killer.

Selene recognized the face as one of her old Death Dealer companions. She hesitated for a second, but then thought better of providing him with unnecessary mercy, and blew a hole in his face.

Fatigue took over her, and Selene collapsed to the ground on her knees.

Back in his human form, Michael rushed to her side. He gave her a light hug, then checked her back where there were several gunshot wounds.

"I'll be fine," she said out of habit.

Michael smiled. "Actually, I think you will be, for once."

"Really?" Selene couldn't hide the surprise in her voice.

"The bullets are the type just to slow their enemy down, not to cause some serious damage."

Michael smirked. "Didn't get the suit, huh?"

Selene shook her head. "No." She laughed. "I can't even get a damn suit without being attacked. And I thought last week sucked…"

"Well, this week has one thing we didn't have last week," Michael said, beaming.

"What?"

"A baby." He kissed her. "_**Our**_ baby."

* * *

**A/N:**

**I put up a chapter last night, but I was incredibly unhappy with what I did to it, so I took it down this morning and changed it around.**

**Because all of my planning has changed, chapter 9 is going to be incredibly short, and should be up soon. Hope you enjoyed it!**

****

**KATEB819**


	10. Even More Beautiful

Remembering where Daniel had stabbed her, Selene checked her wound -- in the stomach.

Michael looked down, too, and worry filled his eyes. "Oh, God," he breathed.

Selene looked back up, and, with tears in her eyes, whispered, "Michael…" _It can't be true_, she wailed in her mind. _Our baby can't be… dead._

Michael met her eyes, confirming her worst fears – Daniel had inadvertently slaughtered their unborn baby in the process of trying to murder Selene.

"Th-there's no way… our baby could never have survived this," he said.

Selene felt bile rise in her throat at these words.

Allowing tears to wash down her cheeks, Selene sat down on the ground. "That does it," she announced gravely, but still cracking a smile, "this week sucks more than last week."

Michael laughed, but his worried expression returned.

"Look," Selene said. "Let's get some sleep, and then when we wake up, we can go back to Nueve Esperanza."

Michael nodded his agreement grimly, and they both returned to the car. Selene slept in the back seats, and Michael slept in the space behind those seats.

They awoke, neither sleeping too well, but having slept got the energy to go back to the mansion.

Selene and Michael got out the car to go to the front for their drive back.

Outside, Michael wrapped his arms around Selene. He nuzzled her neck from behind her. "Hello," he said warmly.

Selene fought the urge to close up again, and returned just as affectionately, "Hey."

His arms traveled down to her waist. Careful of where Daniel had stabbed her, he squeezed her lightly. "How's your back?"

"Fine," she said. There was a slight soreness, but no pain. In fact, she was basically completely healed by her experiences with Daisy and Marc not too long before. There were scars that were likely to never fade, of course, but at least she could walk around the mansion without the fear of passing out at any moment gnawing at the back of her mind.

"I'm glad." He let her go. "Do you need to talk?"

Once again, fighting an urge to lock her emotions up behind a door, Selene shook her head. "I think if it had been further along," she explained, "I would've been more upset. But I only knew I was pregnant for what? A few hours?"

"True," he acknowledged, "but it still hurts."

Selene looked at Michael, not hiding a shred of emotion. She kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Do _**you**_ need to talk?"

Michael leaned against the door and sighed heavily. "It just kind of…"

"…sucks?" Selene filled in.

"You've been hanging out with Damien _**way**_ too much." He smiled at her, but then it faded. "But yeah, it… sucks." He frowned, his brows wrinkling together. "I wasn't even sure I wanted a baby with you, I didn't think we needed one. But when Adam told me you were pregnant, I got so happy…"

Selene could've visualized the scene. Something like Tom Cruise jumping up and down on Oprah's couch, perhaps.

"I kept thinking, 'Wow, I'm gonna be a daddy!'" He smiled at the thought. Once again, a grim expression crept across his face. "But now…"

Selene gave him a hug. "Now is no different." He gave her a surprised look. "Look, I'm not saying I wanna try _**right away**_." She took a breath. "But maybe… someday, we can try to start a family. Right now, it's way too dangerous. If things start to mellow down, perhaps we can try to get you that Daddy title you want."

Michael looked pleasantly shocked. He had known Selene would try to open up… not begin planning their future. It was a nice change.

She smiled, and Michael wished that she would do it more often. Her stunning teeth were shown just enough, and the ends of her lips curled up perfectly.

"You should do that more," he commented out loud.

"Do what?"

He gave her a kiss on the forehead, holding her there so that they could both feel the comfort of the skin-on-skin contact. "Smile," he responded eventually. "You look so beautiful when you smile."

She pouted, teasing. "Don't I always look beautiful?"

He laughed. "Fine, you look _**more beautiful**_."

* * *

**A/N:**

**I know it was kind of a bitter-sweet chapter...**

**Initially, I had this chapter and chapter 8 mixed into one, but Matthew316 pointed out to me that it might be overwhelming and a bit too much to digest...**

**So thanks to him for that.**

**Thank you for reading. I hope you liked what you read.**

**Leave a comment, if you want...**

**KATEB819**


	11. Lucian to the Rescue!

Arriving at Nueve Esperanza around seven in the morning, Selene obviously called off the funeral. Not sure if she was mentally ready to attend the funeral, she announced that the date and time of the funeral was to be determined at a later date. She also announced the good news and bad news – that Selene and Michael _**were**_ expecting, but no longer were.

Adam gravely confirmed what Selene and Michael had known to be true – their first baby, unborn, had been killed due to Daniel's cruel attack.

Selene and Michael returned to their rooms, lying awake but not speaking.

It wasn't until the next night that either Selene or Michael emerged. Selene saw Damien in the break room.

"Selene," he greeted, not too cheerful but not too bleak either.

She flashed him the best smile she could. "Amie."

He went over and gave her a hug. "I'm so sorry," he consoled, holding her tighter.

"Any excuse to cop a feel on my girl, huh?" a voice rang from the doorway. It was Michael.

"You know it," Damien quipped. He checked his watch. "And if you'll excuse me, I've gotta go on a mission." He politely excused himself and left the room.

Shortly afterwards, Derek poked his head in.

"What's up?" Michael asked.

"Well," Derek said. When Derek began with "well," it never meant that what he was about to continue with would be a good thing. "We're short some men. And I know that you guys got put through the ringer last night, but… we have no one else for this mission."

Selene rolled her eyes. "What is it?"

"All you two have to do is check out an abandoned warehouse, make sure that that's just what it is: abandoned."

Selene met Michael's eyes. After being together for so long, they could almost read each other's minds. "Okay," Selene answered.

"Mm hmm," Michael agreed.

Derek sighed with relief. "Thanks, guys. You're lifesavers. So the three of you head out, and then come back, and that's that."

"Three?" Michael asked.

"You, Selene, and Simon."

"Oh."

In ten minutes, the three of them were the door. Simon was driving.

"Why did the vampire cross the road?" Simon joked as an ice breaker.

Selene chuckled. "Because they were Lycan it on the other side."

Simon shot her a pretend dirty look. "How'd you know?"

"Amie told it to me, too."

Michael rolled his eyes in the back seat. "Damien needs to find more mature jokes."

Selene playfully smacked Michael. "At least he's not telling knock-knock jokes."

"Actually…" Simon said. "Knock, knock."

Hesitating, but finally deciding to take the bait, Selene answered, "Who's there…?"

"I, Lycan."

"I, Lycan who?"

"I Lycan you!"

Selene slapped Simon for the cheesy joke, but was chuckling all the same. Michael was smiling, too. At least Simon had brought them out of a potential grim drive.

A few moments later, Simon pulled up to a building. It was rotting, and seemed like it would fall down at any moment.

"Check out the digs," Simon remarked. "I doubt there's anyone there."

Although she agreed with his analysis, they had to go and check it out, anyway. The Death Dealers had believed that the subway tunnels were vacant – and look what'd happened to that theory.

Leading the other two men in, Selene entered the building.

They swept through the edifice, and were finished in half an hour, having done their job efficiently. They just had a basement left to go.

"Si," Selene ordered, "you can go back, now. Michael and I can handle whatever we may find down in the basement by ourselves."

He looked at Selene funny. "You sure?"

"Positive." She flashed him a grin. "Just keep the car running. I wanna get back as soon as possible, now that our 'peaceful' evening was ruined by this bull."

Michael and Selene finished searching the basement within minutes, and went back up the flight of stairs to leave.

They were almost out, when Selene sensed something on the ground floor.

The presence seemed to be coming from the shadows of the deteriorating staircase.

Selene recognized it instantly – Daniel.

She stopped before she reached the staircase, and so did Michael.

"What's goin' on, Selene?" Michael asked.

Selene paused, hoping she was sure before announcing. If she was wrong, and the presence she was sensing was _**not**_ Daniel, she was going to regret it.

"Danny," she called out. "We know it's you."

Lo and behold, Daniel stepped out from the shadows. "Do _**not**_ call me 'Danny,'" he spat angrily. "You bitch."

"Gonna take us on by yourself?" Michael asked skeptically.

Daniel picked up a unique-looking gun and shot Selene twice in the chest, then the gun clicked as if empty.

Selene crumpled to the floor, and to her dismay, she was paralyzed.

Michael dropped to her side, keeping a wary eye on Daniel. He looked down at her, and realized something was wrong by the harried look in her eyes.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" Michael demanded.

_It's not bad enough he killed my child,_ Selene thought, unable to move or show emotion, _but now he has to render me useless…_

"Paralyzed her," Daniel answered. "Powerful stuff," he bragged. "Very rare. Which is why," he stopped, picking something else out of his pocket. "Why I didn't want to use one on you. Too much value to waste on you."

Daniel shot another dart, this one slightly different, at Selene. Michael jumped protectively in front of her, taking it in the chest.

"I was counting on that," Daniel said smugly. "It's an enzyme," he revealed. "The same one Lucian used on you all those years, ago, only more potent, to ensure that you won't change for a few hours."

Selene's eyes widened in fright. With Michael's strength equal to that of a human's, and Selene unable to even move, Daniel was more than a match for the pair of them.

Also sensing that any effort would be futile, Michael picked up Selene and attempted to carry her out of the building.

Daniel moved fast, throwing Michael far into the air, Selene falling from his hold. She landed with a thunderous crash on the ground.

Michael scrambled to his feet, wincing in pain. He had forgotten how much a difference being an immortal made when it came to tolerating pain. He searched around for Selene, and realized she was _**behind**_ Daniel. He cursed beneath his breath.

Daniel coolly walked over to Selene, and plucked her up from the ground. He held her against the wall by the neck. Michael took the opportunity that his back was turned, and took a chunk of the wall that had been knocked out by his impact with it, and smashed it over Daniel's head.

He grabbed Selene once again, and ran as fast as he could. Daniel threw it back, but missed by a mile.

In anger, he charged after them, catching up without even breaking a sweat. Michael was getting tired, and just as he was ready to accept a blow from Daniel yet again, a loud gunshot rang through the floor.

Michael looked towards the sound, and was shocked to discover who had caused it – _Lucian!_

"Come with me!" he shouted over the grumbling, cursing, and groaning of Daniel.

_What is this, _Terminator Michael thought. _"Come with me if you want to live…"_

Hesitating, but unsure that there was any other option, Michael carried Selene over to Lucian, who had parked right outside the door.

Michael placed Selene in the backseat, then sat next to her. _Like I want to be in the front with _him_…_ Michael thought.

He looked over to Selene as Lucian pulled away from the building, breaking the speeding limit within seconds.

Selene was still, and it frightened Michael. If he hadn't known that she was paralyzed – temporarily – then he would've thought she was a dead body. She was blinking, and that was about it. Her actions gave away no other indication that she was alive.

Michael, on the other hand, felt like a large bruise. He felt like pain personified. How had he not known that being an immortal made that much of a difference?

He held Selene's hand, enjoying her comfort. Even if she couldn't hold his hand, the contact itself sent his heart racing.

"What's going on?" Michael asked.

Lucian didn't answer his question. "What's wrong with her? Or you, for the matter. Daniel's a normal vampire; you should've bested him easily."

"Daniel paralyzed Selene," Michael answered, "and he used that stupid enzyme on me that you used, to prevent changing." He looked over to Selene, who's eyes were directed at him. "What's going on?" he repeated.

Lucian glanced at him through the driver's mirror. "Once Selene is no longer incapable of moving… then we'll talk. What I have to say requires her input."

Michael looked at Selene again, and her eyes were filled with confusion and curiosity, just like his.

"Fine," he answered, not sure that he really had a choice in the matter.


	12. A Reflection

Lucian drove them to the dock. Ironically enough, it was where Marcus had attacked the both of them. Needless to say, because of this, Michael was a bit antsy to return there.

"It's abandoned," Lucian had said.

Selene's paralysis had begun to wear off by sunrise. Michael began to feel stronger, as well. He called Derek to let them know that Selene and him were alive, and briefly told him about Lucian saving them. Derek reluctantly accepted his order not to come to get them, and called Simon, who was panicking back at the abandoned building, to tell him to return home.

Finally, when Selene was able to speak, Lucian began speaking to them on the abandoned dock.

The view was breathtaking as the sun rose, leaving a beautiful stream of colors under it.

"What's going on?" Selene asked, just as Michael had. He had his arms wrapped around her. It was nice to see her capable of moving and speaking, again.

Lucian met her eyes. For one moment, there was a pure hatred in them, not for her, but for her kind, and it burned with the power of eight centuries of negativity.

"What's going on," he finally answered, looking away, "is that I am backing out of my deal with Marc and Erika. Or Daisy, whatever." He showed obvious distaste for her new name, as well.

"Why?" Michael asked.

Lucian looked over to them. Instead of anger or hate, his eyes now glowed with compassion and humanity. "I think Daniel crossed a line when he stabbed you in the stomach, knowing you were expecting," he confessed. "Marc and… Daisy agreed with Daniel. They said that it was a good decision he made."

"And you disagree," Selene said again, not believing her ears. Lucian wanted to hurt the Stealth Shooters, and hurting its leaders emotionally and mentally would definitely do the trick.

"Yes." He shrugged, his eyes returning to a neutral tone. "I dunno, maybe I just have a soft spot regarding killing unborn children, but I think Daniel crossed a line."

"So, you're on our side?" Michael asked, confused.

"No," Lucian stated bluntly. "I wanted to tell you that, while I do believe that the Stealth Shooters have the upper hand, and that would prove bad for both sides, I cannot side with leaders who are willing to kill an innocent baby, either."

"So you're neutral?" Selene was still puzzled, and so was Michael.

"Yes."

_That's the way it should have always been,_ Selene thought. "Okay," Selene said.

Lucian looked as if he was about to add something, but he didn't say anything. "Shall I drop you off?" he asked, in a gentleman-like manner.

Selene was in no shape to walk all the way back, so they agreed to let Lucian drive them back.

The drive was spent in an awkward silence, and Lucian dropped them off. He handed Selene an envelope, and then took off without any other form of acknowledgment. Selene went to her room to look in the envelope Lucian had given her. Michael was downstairs, making sure all of his hybrid had returned. She opened the letter.

_Dear Selene:_

_I understand that there are still many things that remains unknown not just about hybrids like me and Michael, but about whatever it is you've become. Strength, for most immortals, usually lies in being able to kill another race. Even hybrids that were not born into their state must go through a maturing stage – some, like me, had to even go through a second one._

_But you're a different species completely, one that has nothing known about them. Through my research, however, I have been able to discover more about Corvinus's strength, and therefore, yours._

_Your strength lies in humanity. Whereas the other immortals' strength lies in hate and murder, the pure Corvinus power lies in compassion and the ability to open up and love. If you trace the lines as I did, you'll find that all of the human descendants of Corvinus were healers in some way, shape, or form. Just as Michael was a doctor (or attempting to become one), his ancestors were also doctors, medics, or in some other profession where they helped others, as humanitarians._

_Therefore, I advise you to go against your warrior roots, and try to remain as compassionate and loving, warm and open as you can. Perhaps it is not coincidence that you fell in love with one whom you were supposed to hate._

_Do not do as I have done all of my existence and hide behind anger, bigotry, revenge, and hate. Live as the human you were destined to be. Stay out of that shell that appears to fit so comfortably._

_Yours truly,_

_Lucian_

Selene looked up from the letter. Damien was standing there.

"Hi," Selene said. Thoughts raced through her head. _My strength lies in love,_ she thought. That must have been what Leon had been trying to tell her.

"Hey-lo," he said, combining "hey" and "hello." He looked down at the letter. "Anything useful?"

"Yeah. But only to me. Just some stuff I need to work on."

He sat down next to her. "You okay?"

She sighed, and leaned further into the couch. "Michael send you?"

Damien laughed. "No."

_Sure…_ "I'm fine. I think I am, anyway."

Damien nodded slowly.

"I am a bit upset, kind of sad that I'm not able to find out how I'd be as a mother."

Damien hugged her with one arm. "You'd be great. You _**will**_ be great."

Selene said, "Michael sent you, didn't he." Not a question.

"What gave me away?" he asked sheepishly.

She smiled, lying her head on his shoulder, "He told you that children might be in our future, right?"

He chuckled. "Oops." He looked down at her, grinning. "Don't tell him?"

She pretended her lips had a zipper between them and zipped them closed. "Won't say a word."

She had to reflect on the oddness of the moment. Damien sitting there, talking about some stupid Kate Beckinsale movie he was watching ("Click," he had said. Some dumb Adam Sandler movie…), and her right next to him, her head on his shoulder.

A little over a two hundred years ago, she wouldn't have been caught dead doing this with another _**vampire**_, let alone a _**Lycan**_. And a little less than two hundred years ago, she might have been caught doing this with a vampire, but probably not a Lycan.

Now…

"…and I felt so bad for that duck," Damien was saying.

"Duck?"

"Yeah, the one that… the dogs were humping. Are you even listening?"

"Sorry," Selene apologized. "I'm just a little off today."

"No, it's fine." At Selene's skeptical look, he insisted, "Really. Get some sleep. You need it; you've had a very eventful last few days."

Selene looked up. "But I'm so comfortable right now," she whined playfully.

He laughed. "Then we'll stay right here."

"You sure?"

"Yes. I didn't sleep well, anyway."

Within moments, Selene was fast asleep.

But she didn't dream. No dreams of Leon, no cryptic messages of impending doom of something to come.

Just being held in Damien's arms. Damien didn't sleep that day, he just held her.


	13. A Talk with Daniel

Selene was awoken by screams and urgent callings of her name. She jerked awake. It was Damien, who was shaking her.

"What is it?" she asked groggily.

"We have intruders," he announced, worry in his eyes. "They came through the front door, with so much force in the middle of the day that most of the first soldiers out there were killed."

Selene looked around the room, still half-asleep. Damien, Derek, and Simon were there. "Where's Michael?" she asked, alarmed. Had he been one of the first soldiers?

"He's okay," Derek answered right away. "At least, he was…"

"What do you mean?" she barked.

Simon spoke. "Look, Selene, we tried to keep him from going back out. He didn't want us to wake you up unless we had to, but we thought that we should."

"He went back out?" she shouted.

"We tried to stop him," Damien protested. "But you know how once he makes up his mind about something…"

Selene sighed in disgust. Not so much at the three men, more at Michael. Why would he put himself at so much risk like this?

She got up, now wide awake. She could hear cries of pain and grotesque sounds from the other side of the wall.

"Where are you going?" Derek asked, uneasy.

"To find Michael," she said. All three men did not look happy at her answer. She began giving orders. "Derek ad Damien, go and get everyone you can out the back door. Hide in the graveyard. Simon, get weapons and aid them in evacuation."

"And you're gonna go and find Michael by yourself," Damien said, disbelievingly.

"Yes. Problems? Questions?"

They all gulped and shook their head.

"Good."

They all left to do what Selene had told them to do. Selene took a moment, taking a deep breath to clear her mind. Her heart was still racing from when she had feared that Michael was killed. She slowly opened the door.

It was chaos outside. _How did they all get in here?_

Unfortunately, they had had the element of surprise on their side, and apparently it made all the difference.

Selene sniffed the air. There was a mix of blood, sweat, and fear in the air, but Selene was able pick Michael's scent easily out of the mix. She followed it immediately, through hallways, up staircases to avoid battles, down others, and through rooms of utter pandemonium and bloodshed.

She found Michael lying on the floor, covered in blood. Selene was relieved to realize that most of the blood was not, in fact, his. She dropped down next to him.

He looked at her. "Selene." He looked more shocked than anything.

"What's this I hear," she said, teasingly, "about you wanting me to sleep instead of helping the rest of our team survive?"

He laughed quietly. "I just… I don't want you to get hurt."

"Michael," she stretched out his name sweetly, "since when have you been concerned with whether or not I get hurt?"

"Since… I dunno, I guess since I found out we might have a child together in the future." He smiled, and tried to sit up. He stopped, as if the action gave him pain. "I wanna make sure you get there."

She gave him a kiss on a spot on his cheek that didn't have blood on it. "Let's make sure you get there, first." She helped him up gently. "What happened?"

"A bunch of Death Dealers came through the front door, killing most of the first soldiers."

"I know that. I meant, to you."

Michael looked down. "I think a few of those vamps broke my arm."

Selene looked at it. _Yup._ "Yeah, it is."

She looked up from his arm to see his eyes looking deep into hers. "Where's everyone else?"

"They left, or helping evacuate."

"Why didn't you go, too?"

Selene was perplexed at the question. "And leave you here?" She scoffed. "Why would I do that?"

He shrugged.

"I think you're a very confused man," she commented, and gave him a kiss on the lips. "Now, let's get the hell outta this hellhole."

Selene and Michael left the mansion, and met Derek, Damien, and Simon outside.

"Everyone's out," Derek reported.

"And our enemies?" Michael asked.

"Out, too."

Daniel's scent filled Selene's nostrils, and she whirled around to see him. Derek raised his gun to shoot him, but Selene signaled for him not to.

"Danny."

He growled, "Don't call me that!"

"This is suicide, for you to come over _**here**_ and confront her. You do know that, right?" Damien walked forward, closer to Selene.

"I don't want to fight," he said through clenched teeth. "I want to talk." He regarded Damien coolly. "Alone."

"Like we're gonna accept that bullshit," Derek said.

"Guys," Selene suddenly spoke. _This is crazy, but…_ She looked at Daniel. "Come with me," she said to him.

"Selene, what the hell are you doing?" Simon shouted.

"This is an obvious trap," Michael said, although Selene could tell he knew why she wanted to speak to him alone.

"I need to do this," she said. "Even if it is a trap."

Realizing that Selene was going to be stubborn about this, they let her go.

Selene led Daniel to a spot in the forest near Nueve Esperanza.

He looked at her through angry eyes, hate coming out of him in waves. He had his arms crossed, and paced as the talk went on.

"Danny… Daniel," she amended. "Immortal life hasn't been fair to you, has it?"

He maintained his cold expression. Selene realized, if she had been him, she would've been the same way.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. He perked up a bit at that. "I should never have changed you."

"Is that all?" he snorted.

"No," she swallowed. "I never should have banished you under Viktor's orders. I should have gone with my gut and… tried to help you with your blood lust. It was my fault that I abandoned you after I Turned you."

He was not as angry, it seemed, now. "Uh huh," he said, as if he wanted more.

"I should have fought for you. I should have asked Viktor to rethink his decision. And even if that wouldn't have worked, I should have tried to help you myself."

"Yeah," he said.

"And I shouldn't have neglected you. I should have gave you blood when I bit you."

Th glimmer in his eyes changed, now. Like centuries of pent-up sorrow and sadness pooled into one.

"Daniel… Danny… Oh, Danny," she spoke quietly. Her orbs were filled with grief, guilt, and pity as they looked at him. "I'm so sorry."

He choked up, sobs escaping his mouth. "Why? _**Why**_ didn't you help me?"

She tried not to sob, but tears of regret made their way down her face. "I don't know," she confessed. "I wish I do, but I don't know why." She gasped a sob. "Ever since I banished you, Danny, I've regretted it ever since. There were so many things I did, either by order of Viktor, or of my own free will, and you were one of them."

Daniel cried, backing up against the wall.

Minutes passed, both of them quiet, save the sounds of their sobs.

"You know," Daniel said, laughing bitterly, "I was supposed to kill you."

"Why don't you?" Selene asked.

"I will," he said, his face falling back into the mask all vampire warriors wore. "But not now."

"What will you tell Marc?"

"I'll tell him… that you got away." He walked out of the forest, off into the direction of the city.

He turned around, just barely in earshot. "Next time, I won't 'let you get away.' Next time, you're going down for real."

Selene nodded, understanding. But as much as she regretted giving him the life he had, Daniel would not get to take away her life to balance the scale.

She would just have to leave that scale unbalanced.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Yeah, I know it's been quite a while since I updated anything... Three chapters to show for it is pretty good, though...**

**Lemme know what you thought. Anything's useful, really.**

**Thanks a lot for being patient and waiting, and for reading.**

**KATEB819**


	14. Into A Trap

Another week passed by uneventfully. Eventually, Selene and Michael stopped being so quiet around each other, the uncomfortable silences decreased in number, and life returned to normal. Or whatever passed as normal, anyway.

Selene and Damien were in the break room. Selene was drinking a cup of tea, and Damien was listening to the news on his NewPod, a distant descendant of the old iPods.

Michael walked in, kissing Selene on the forehead as he sat down.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Fine, I guess," she answered vaguely. She cleared her throat, and look down to avoid his gaze. "I had another dream about Leon," she admitted quietly.

Michael shifted uncomfortably. He looked over to Damien, who didn't seem to be paying attention. Even if he was, Michael didn't really care. In fact, it made him feel better that Selene was willing to share in front of an audience. "Oh?" he said, giving her an option with elaborating or changing the subject.

"Yeah," she said, focusing on a little crack on her coffee cup. "It was… intense."

"How so?" Michael asked.

"I don't remember much," she said quickly, shutting down the conversation. Still, it was something… right?

Derek walked in, announcing, "Mission time." He pointed to Selene and Michael. "Meaning you two."

"Why's Amie off?" Selene whined playfully.

"Because I love him more than you two," he quipped. "That, and he's got inventory. So, unless you wanna do it for him…"

"It's fine," Michael answered fast. Damien rolled his eyes.

"Where to?" Selene asked.

"Just you and Mike going to check out an alley that's rumored to have some dealings there," Derek answered. He gave them a paper with the address and all the information necessary for them to complete the mission. "Just watch it, take note of whatever may or may not happen, and come back. Simple."

Michael put a hand on Selene's shoulder affectionately. He felt her tense, as she had done for the first few years of their time together, and sometimes still did out of habit. Then he felt her relax, but slowly and hesitantly.

Selene got up, and Michael and her walked to the dojo, picked up two guns each, one FP for each of them, and left to go to the garage to pick up their car.

After a few seconds of light teasing, Michael let Selene drive.

She parked a couple of blocks away from the alley. As she was turning off the car's engine, Michael grabbed her arm before she was able to leave. "First of all, do you wanna talk about your dream?"

"Michael, now?" She was annoyed. "You really wanna talk at the risk of missing something important in that alley?"

"Yeah," he responded without hesitation.

She slumped against the seat, realizing Michael wouldn't let her out of the car unless she had talked and had a therapy session in the car first. "What do you want to know?"

"What was the dream about?"

She swallowed hard, sighing. "We were on my balcony again… He came up from behind me." She stopped, a smile reaching her lips. "He whispered in my ear that he was getting tired of having to find me, instead of me finding him. And I told him that I didn't know where he was."

"And?" He was totally focused on her. She was meeting his eyes with hers, and he saw longing, fondness, happiness, and sadness mixed altogether all at once. She looked so beautiful in that moment, the moonlight shining in through the front windshield, washing over her face and bathing her in radiance. Her dark eyes shone brightly in the night, glimmering with the gorgeous soul that he had fallen in love with all those nights ago.

"And… he kissed me. He wrapped his arms around me and just kissed me." She gulped and said, "and I kissed him back."

Michael looked at her, and a wave of guilt washed over him like it had done so much recently since he had murdered Leon. But she had forgiven him… he wasn't sure if even he would have done that if he was in her spot.

"You miss him a lot, don't you?"

Selene's face hardened involuntarily. He could tell that was as far as he would get with her right now. "Let's go," she said.

Michael resisted the urge to scream at her to stay put, and got out of the car. Selene stalked off in the direction of the alley, grimly and brooding. Michael followed her, ignoring a desire to strangle her. He told himself he should know better – she was always like this, and even if she was changing, the rate would still be a slow one. Unfortunately, it didn't make it any better.

She led him to the alley, and they climbed up a fire escape, all the while checking to make sure no one was watching them. Selene was quicker and quieter – she was always the stealthier of the pair. Michael had never mastered the technique of being fast and cool, and it had hurt him a few times in the past. Luckily, Selene was always there to compensate for his mistakes.

He felt guilty as he remembered how he had treated Selene in the car, like he was interrogating her. That wasn't the way it should be for her, for her to worry about whether or not every time she let Michael know something, he'd press for more.

When they reached the top, he tapped Selene on the shoulder. He saw her tense, this time probably more because she thought they were under attack.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"Michael Corvin," she hissed, "this is not the time." She rarely used his last name, and when she did, it was the equivalent of a mom using her child's middle name.

"Sorry," he apologized again, feeling stupider and stupider by the minute.

Two cars drove into the alley, and they both hid behind separate gargoyles. Michael had to struggle to hide behind his more than Selene, who easily slipped behind hers. She looked over to make sure he was hidden, and then peered down to watch the newly arrived men.

Michael saw her eyes widen in shock, and looked down, his jaw dropping as he realized who the two men coming out of one of the cars were.

_Damien and Derek!_

He saw Selene steady herself against the gargoyle, and she met his eyes. They were filled with utter horror and terror. His was probably the same, and his mind whirled as he recognized Death Dealers in the other car.

"Derek, Damien," a gruff voice greeted below.

"Howdy," Damien returned cheerfully.

Then, as he struggled to concentrate on the dealings going on beneath him, a question crept into his mind: _Why would Derek send us here, knowing they would meet the Death Dealers here?_ Only two answers would be possible – either one, he was incredibly stupid; or two, he had _**wanted**_ them be there.

He looked over to Selene, about to whisper this to her, when he realized she must have reached the same conclusion. Anyone could say whatever they wanted about how little they could communicate verbally, but their minds always seemed to be on the same wavelength.

Returning to the scene less shakily, they tuned into the conversation.

The taller, slimmer of the two Death Dealers was speaking. "So Mike and Selene have no idea about you meeting us here?"

"No idea," Derek lied.

The short, plump one of the pair handed a briefcase to Damien. "One paralyzer, and one enzyme. Questions?"

Selene shifted uncomfortably. She recognized both of the Death Dealers, who were there when she was one. _Was,_ she thought bitterly. She hoped that the conclusion she and Michael had reached was the correct one.

Damien shook his head. "None." He put it in the backseat of the car, and got into the driver's seat.

"If this is a trick," the tall vampire threatened, "we will get very, _**very**_ angry."

Selene understood what Derek and Damien must've been planning. If they got their hands on the paralyzing substance and on the enzyme, there would be a chance they could find the cure or antidote to them.

Derek got into the car and they drove away.

Selene heard Michael let out a sigh of relief. At least the wind was in the favor tonight – if it blew the other way, the vampires could catch scent of them and it would be hell from there on.

_Finally, a good thing that's on our side,_ Selene thought.

As if on cue, the wind shifted direction.

Both of the vampires' heads shot up in response to the trace of Lycan in Michael's scent. Quicker than either Selene or Michael could respond, the tall immortal lobbied a grenade in their direction.

Selene and Michael leapt down to the ground below, but the grenade went off on impact. The gargoyles they were hiding behind blew up, pieces of it becoming projectiles. Selene did her best not to scream out as a large shard pierced through her corset and into her side. Another grazed her cheek, and one more embedded itself into her shoulder.

Michael also got scraped, but none had made its way into his flesh, unlike Selene.

They both landed with a thud. Selene pushed herself back up, and ignored the several pains that shot through multiple parts of her body. Michael followed suit and got right back up as well. Selene flinched as she tried to get her bearings, and narrowly dodged bullets shot by the two Death Dealers. She took off in one direction, having no idea where she was headed. Michael followed Selene, right behind her by cautiously.

Selene slowed down from the pain, no longer able to ignore it. That was a mistake, because then it made her an easier target, and one of the two Death Dealers shot her in the knee. So now, not only was she unable to run, she couldn't even walk.

She collapsed to the ground involuntarily, and Michael didn't break stride, swooping her up and carrying her off.

She winced in pain, and Michael tried his best to not cause her more pain than she was already in. He continued to hold her in his arms, leading them into a mysterious entrance.

He walked into the dark doorway, but he didn't know.

He didn't know he was walking right into a trap.


	15. The Trap

Selene gasped in pain as Michael laid her on the ground. He'd done it as gently as he could; yet it still sent pains shooting through her.

"Sorry," he apologized. A noise nearby caught his attention.

Selene realized that he had walked them right into a trap. "Michael," she whispered, "this is a trap."

"What?!"

She inhaled sharply as she shifted position, only to cause more discomfort. "I can smell it. There's a whole bunch of Death Dealers down here." While the Stealth Shooters wore t-shirts and jeans and in general, more causal wear, the Death Dealers stuck with leather and latex, looking more sleek and stealthy. Selene was one of the only Stealth Shooters who didn't wear the casual attire most of her team wore.

Michael sniffed the air. "Shit."

Footsteps began to come towards them. Michael swooped her back up, and ran with her in his arms behind a wall. He was panting now; his heartbeat raced.

Selene struggled to stay calm. Then it hit her; she knew these tunnels. The Death Dealers had frequented these tunnels, and if memory served…

_Hiding spot's nearby…_

"Michael," Selene whispered as the Death Dealers walked right by them, missing them by a hair.

"What?"

"I know this place…" She took a second to ignore the agony her body was going through. She was bleeding in several places. If it hadn't been for the fact that she was a vampire, they would've been caught by now. "There's a hiding spot."

The Death Dealers stood right in front of the entrance. _Great_, she thought sarcastically.

"Where?"

He hesitantly placed her on her own two feet, and she stumbled for a second, holding her sides in an attempt to minimize the bleeding, to no avail.

She hobbled along, deeper into the tunnels. Surprised that she was working so well relying just on memory, she led the way, with Michael as support. She stopped a few times, caught her breath, and continued, ignoring Michael's urging for her to stop altogether.

At one point, Selene leaned against the wall, sliding down it.

"Michael, I can't," she gasped.

Michael checked her wounds, which were all bleeding profusely. "Crap," he muttered. "Selene," he said, looking into her eyes. He looked around. "How close are we to the hiding place?" Footsteps.

She sighed. "We're almost there." Footsteps closer now.

Pleading with his eyes, Michael swallowed. "Can you make it?" Getting closer.

Exhaustion and fatigue, not to mention blood loss was becoming quite the issue, but Selene nodded. "I'll try." Almost there, now.

Selene and Michael walked on, the footsteps making them press onward, without a choice. If they were caught, Michael could take on one Death Dealer. Probably many more. But a dozen reinforcements who would hear the fighting? Two dozen? No.

Finally, Selene stopped.

"Selene," Michael said, urgently. "We have to—"

"We're here," she said, leaning against the wall, almost collapsing now.

"Where?' he asked. "All I see is a wall."

Selene tapped a brick on the wall, and stepped away from it, using Michael as a support. The wall opened in two halves, each half about two feet wide, and about a foot thick. On the other side were handles, so after you walked in, you could pull it shut.

Michael's jaw dropped open. Selene led him inside.

He looked around, pulling the two halves of the open wall closed, quietly. There was no light, but that wasn't a problem for either of the immortals. Michael looked around as Selene collapsed on a chair.

The room was very similar to the safe house Selene had led him to years ago. The only thing was different, other than a lack of lighting, was that it looked like it hadn't been used in centuries. Layers and layers of dust covered everything, and even the furniture was made of wood.

"Jesus, when was the last time anyone was in here?"

Selene groaned, then said, "Uhm, I think the last time I was in here was sometime during the American Civil War?"

"That was over 300 years ago!"

"Yeah, so?"

Michael was still wrapping his head around the idea of centuries. He had only been around for two, so anything over that, at the moment was mind-boggling. Selene, on the other hand, was about 800 years old by now, so three hundred years were almost nothing to her. "Never mind." He was glad that she wasn't one of those women who got angry when her man brought up her age. _Coz then I'd be screwed_, he thought. She had six centuries on him, after all.

"Michael, you have to go." Selene was still seated, wincing at the pain she tried not to show."

"What? Why?"

"Think about it, Michael," Selene said, keeping pressure some of her open wounds to lessen the pain, "no one knows where we are, none of the Stealth Shooters, anyway. They're gonna go to the last place they saw us – the meeting place, follow out scents, and walk right into a trap. I'm positive that that's what the Death Dealers are planning."

Michael seemed pensive for a moment. "I'm taking you with me."

Selene sighed. "Go ahead," she said, avoiding his statement. "I'll catch up."

"Right," he said, not believing a word she just said. "Yeah, I'll do that, and then I'll attack a human just for the hell of it, then I'll go and fly around for a few hours."

"I'm in no mood to walk, Michael," she said quietly.

"You're hurt," he pointed out. "You really think leaving you here is the best thing for you?"

"You really think taking me with you is the best thing for our team?" She held her head. "Damien's gonna charge right in after me, and you know the others will be quick to follow. And it'll be right where the Death Dealers want them."

She looked into Michael's eyes, unwilling to budge. There had been many moments like this in the past, where both had been stubborn, not willing to back down. Michael hadn't always lost the fight, either. Selene had eventually given up and Michael had gotten his way; this time however, Selene made up her mind, and that was that she wouldn't change it.

Michael saw this, and decided to surrender this time. "Fine," he relinquished. "You win."

_Win, like it's a game._ In the beginning, Michael hadn't taken much seriously. He had thought himself invincible, and that was his downfall many times – Selene had to save his ass more times than either of them could count. Luckily, Selene beat that notion from his brain a while ago. But there were times when Selene couldn't help but wonder if he was really ready for this lifestyle. Even two centuries into it, he still seemed so young, so immature, and so _**mortal**_.

He turned away with obvious reluctance, and slowly opened the door. "If something happens to you," he said quietly, "I'll never forgive myself."

"If something happens to you and it's because I didn't fight hard enough for what I know is right," she returned, "I'd never forgive myself. So I guess we're both self-pitying people."

Michael gave a wry chuckle, and closed the door behind him.

A minute passed by, and Selene let out a breath she didn't even know she had been holding. She leaned her had back, and fell asleep.

She heard a noise on the other side, like someone trying to open the door. _Michael?_

No, it wasn't; Michael knew where the door was, and this person didn't. The scent reached her nose – vampire – _Definitely not Michael_.

Uncertain of what to do, Selene hesitated in making a decision.

And then the Death Dealer opened the door and saw her.


	16. Dr Frankenstein and the Monster

Selene moved fast, ignoring the pain completely. It was a discipline that was vital to the Death Dealers, seeing as how those painkillers hadn't been invented back when she had started out. Being able to block out the pain stopped what could hinder a Death Dealer in their job, their duty.

Snapping the Death Dealer's neck, the immortal never had a chance to give away who he'd seen. But Selene knew better than to relax and let her guard down; Death Dealers generally traveled in teams, so once one had found something, more were bound to follow. In other words, Selene needed to get moving.

Dragging in the corpse and sticking his body behind some tables, Selene left the dead vampire. She closed the door quietly behind her, and made her way away from the secret room. Obviously, her secret hiding place was not so secret.

Selene checked her wounds, and was immensely relieved to find that they had already begun to heal over. She was still in pain, though. But then again, what else was new? Selene contemplated leaving, but another idea gnawed at the back of her mind: the idea to sneak around and figure out what the hell her enemies were up to. Her curiosity got the best of her, and she went deeper into the tunnels.

She heard some clamoring behind her, voices that came form the direction that the room had been. She strained her ears to hear better, and she realized that the guy who attacked her had been found. Struggling to move faster without making too much noise, Selene found herself walking right into a room.

"Well, well… surprise, surprise," commented a voice behind her.

_Dammit_. It was Daniel. "Danny," she greeted, turning around.

He snorted. "Michael left; why didn't you?"

"Because I wanted to check out your digs," she answered.

He cut his eyes at her. "Since when did you get a funny bone?"

She shrugged. "Once you've read enough 'Knock-Knock' joke books…"

He was not amused. He sighed deeply. "I told you the last time that we saw each other, the next time I see you, you're dead."

"And here we are," she said.

He struck first, connecting his fist to her face. She sprang back up and tripped him, and he landed with a sickening thud. She didn't want to fight him just like Dr. Frankenstein hated to fight his monstrous creation, but it was a life-or-death situation, and Selene didn't want to be on the wrong end. He came after her again, tackling her into a wall. Ignoring the pain that her body was screaming in, Selene kneed him hard in the groin, and elbowed him in the chest.

He landed with a grunt, but he got back up. There was a pure anger in his eyes, now. Not because he was what she created, or because she had abandoned him in his time of need, but because she had dared to fight back. He had expected her to surrender, to let him kill her out of guilt; he didn't think she would dare revolt. He hissed and hit her with a fierce uppercut that sent her flying ten feet off the ground and smacking into the ceiling. Selene plunged back down into the floor, and pushed herself back up into a fight stance.

She hissed back, and grabbed his lower torso, bringing him down to the ground. He raised his leg, kicking her in the back of her head. He shoved her to the side and scrambled to his feet. He went digging through a drawer frantically, as if his life depended it. _Who knows, it might,_ Selene thought as she rose to her feet.

"Danny," she called across the room. Her opponent ignored her and continued his fruitless search. "Danny, why are you doing this?" When he didn't acknowledge her, she pressed further. "You don't have to do this. Just drop this vendetta; I don't want to hurt you." _Or worse_.

Daniel continued to neglect paying attention to her and went rifling through the drawer, dead to her words.

"Danny, please, listen to me. Please." No response. She walked over to him. Daniel stopped searching, all motions ceased. He just stood very still. She went over and reached out to touch him, but in a flash, he whipped out what he had been searching for – a knife. The whole time, either of them had in their possession or used a weapon. Daniel wanted to change that.

He went to stab her, knocking her down to the floor and he fell on top of her. He made to plunge the knife into her heart. Acting on instinct, Selene grabbed his wrist, and with a powerful burst of strength, overwhelmed his strength and twisted his wrist, pushing it to plunge deep into Daniel's chest. Daniel jerked back, and collapsed on his back. He began gasping, his eyes wide with shock and fear.

Selene knelt down next to him. She knew that he would have killed her if she didn't do something, but she realized that the only _**human**_ she ever Turned was dying, and a wave of guilt washed over her.

"Why… why are you doing this?" he gasped as she felt her eyes get wet and a tear fell from her eyes.

"Because," she whispered, "no deserved a life like you. No one deserved to kill their own family because their sire was too screwed up to…" She stopped, a lump forming in her throat.

How could Viktor have stood this? Every time she looked at Daniel, she felt the pain and guilt, stronger each time. How Viktor have bared to look at Selene for all those years and never flinch once? She had always talked to him about her nightmares of that night, about the pain she felt every time someone ask her, so how, _**how**_ could he stand to listen to her and say nothing, never a word? Never a hint, never the slightest whiff that he was the one that put her through the hell that was her life, the hell that was that night?

"Because I can't stand having a sire that fucked up, and I don't want you to," she answered.

He continued gasping, the anger leaving his eyes. "Th-thank you," he choked. "I'm sorry…"

"No," she said quietly, putting a kind hand to his face. He flinched, as if he was expecting her to have slapped her or something. "I'm sorry, so sorry Danny."

He smirked and then said: "Don't… call… me… Danny."

And then he died.

Selene looked into his dead eyes, which now contained an essence of content, something Daniel had been searching for, ever since he had slaughtered his family all those years ago. Selene had been the one to create him; she had been the one who killed him. But she had also been the one to free him.

She sat there, filled with thoughts of Viktor and how she seemed to have continued his legacy in Daniel. How many humans had Daniel Turned as well? He had been driven mad by the thirst for a while, and in that time, had he Turned a human? Had he, too, left the human? How many lives were ruined by Viktor's stupid mistake, by Selene's?

Then Selene, overwhelmed, began to cry. She had never cried for her sire's death, since she had always been too angry. But if Daniel had been able to let his anger go, shouldn't she be able to as well?

Selene cried, her body shaking. Death Dealers heard her tears, and began to gather around the doorway. But none dared to harm her; now that Daniel was dead, there was no one to give them orders. And what good were Death Dealers without orders? Selene sat there, finally grieving for her long-dead master, who had ruined her life but had made it better all the same.

When she was drained of tears, all the Death Dealers had scattered, awaiting orders in the darker depths of the tunnel. Selene rose, and picked up Daniel's body. She numbly carried it outside with her, but paused: it was daytime. If she went any further, Daniel's body would become a large, ashy statue. Unable to think of an alternative, Selene left his body at the exit, walking into the daylight. She felt exhausted, mentally more than physically. When had she ever grieved for Viktor? The Stealth Shooters always talked about him like he was a monster. Perhaps his actions could not be described in any other way, but at one point, Selene had held him in the highest regard.

He had been her hero, her savior, her mentor, and most of all, a companion at a time when no one else would be one. He had lent her a helping hand, and while he had been the one who had put her in that situation, at least he had the decency and honor to help get her as close to what had once been. She had never done that for Daniel. She just Turned him, left him to devour his own family, and neglected him when the thirst for human blood was driving him mad. She had abandoned him, banished him, and had been apathetic to his suffering.

No wonder his first reaction had been to kill her; she would have done the same thing. Selene walked home, her physical wounds almost completely healed but her metal wounds fresh and open.

She had ruined a man's life. Maybe him dying was the best thing that could've happened to him.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Bad news, guys. I'm really busy with starting high school and stuff, getting adjusted to the workload and stuff like that. So I won't have enough time to update my story weekly anymore. Maybe every couple of weeks, but not as often as before. Apologies.**

**In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the last two chapters. Hopefully I can get another one up soon, but don't hold me to that...**

**Regards,**

**KateB819**


	17. Losing Michael

The last of her sobs gone from her body, Selene walked up slowly to the gate of Nueva Esperanza. She felt lost, like even though she had finally picked up one piece of her and put in back into the puzzle, another larger piece fell out.

She punched in the code correctly, and then walked beyond the gate, closing it behind her. So much had happened in a matter of hours. She had gotten closure in some places, and now needed more in others.

She walked through the doors, and was not too surprised to find a welcoming committee. Of course, Damien and Michael were in the front of all of them.

"Selene, oh thank God," Damien said, running over to hug her. Selene leaned into the hug, needing some form of comfort. Michael came up behind him.

"You're almost completely healed," he noted happily and relieved.

"Uh huh," she said neutrally. Her voice was sore from crying.

She avoided Michael's eyes, along with everyone else's. She looked up at them after taking a deep breath; she had to tell them that Daniel was dead.

"Can I speak to you two, Simon, and Derek in the dojo? It's important."

"Are you okay?" Michael asked, worried now.

Selene avoided the question. "Are they in there?"

Michael started to press further, but Damien spoke up. "Yeah."

"Good," she said and stalked away from the crowd.

Michael gave Damien an odd look, and mouthed, "What the hell is this about?"

Damien shrugged, and they both followed Selene to the dojo.

"Selene," Michael asked, "what is going on?"

"Daniel's dead," she stated bluntly. Her hoarse voice and puffy eyes betrayed her nonchalance.

"What do you mean, dead?" Simon blinked. "Like kaput, 'dead as a doorknob' dead?"

"Yes," she said quietly.

"How?" Derek asked.

"I killed him. I stabbed him when he lunged at me and," her voice cracked, so she stopped to take a breath. "I killed him, and that's it."

Michael went over to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but she maneuvered away from him. Michael stood there awkwardly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked hesitantly.

Selene didn't answer. She seemed so out of it, as if she was wrestling to say something but couldn't find the strength or will to say it.

"Selene?" Damien poked her, snapping out of her odd trance.

"Huh?" Selene blinked, confused. "No, I'm fine." She looked a bit lost, as if she didn't know what she wanted to do with herself.

Michael seemed annoyed with Selene, and tried not to show it.

Oblivious to Michael's expression, Selene walked out of the room without a farewell.

Damien, typically, followed her.

"What part of 'I'm fine' don't you get?" she snapped, not looking behind her.

"The part where you're fine," he said, catching up to her. She kept walking, but Damien reached out and grabbed her arm, using enough force to stop her but not enough to hurt her.

She sighed in annoyance and turned around.

"Talk to me," he said. "Just talk to me. You can cry when you're alone and try to let this pain fester, but do not, please do not close me off." He saw a spark in her eyes, a fear of losing Damien. "Let's talk in private," he sighed.

Walking into an abandoned room, they sat down on opposite sides of a table.

"You stayed behind, let Michael go first. Why?"

"I didn't want to slow him down."

"You could've just left."

"I wanted to see if there was anything I could eavesdrop on."

"And?"

"Daniel found me." Taking a deep breath, Selene closed her eyes, recalling how fast everything went. "We fought. I didn't want to, but it was either fight or die. He pulled out a knife while I was trying to calm him down, reason with him…" She swallowed, wanting to finish before the pain pierced her heart. "He came at me so fast."

His heart went out to her. He knew how much bad she must have felt. Selene was already feeling guilty enough about Turning a human and leaving him to his fate; killing him did not ease the guilt at all.

"Selene…"

She buried her face in her hands. "What kind of person am I?"

"Selene…" he said lamely. What else could he say to her?

"I abandoned the person who needed me most, who was innocent in all of this. He was not to blame, and I turned my back on him."

He wrapped his arms around her.

She looked up. Her eyes widened in fear. "Oh God, what did I do to Michael?"

"Yeah, I don't think he's too happy about you closing up on him again."

Selene stood up and gave Damien a worried look. "What if I pushed him too far this time?"

He shrugged. "I honestly don't know," he admitted. "But you're gonna have to find out sooner or later…"

"Yeah."

She walked out of the room and back to her room. Michael had to be there, she just knew it. He was out on the balcony, staring into the sky.

"Michael."

He didn't turn around. _Not a good sign_.

"Michael?"

"I heard you," he snapped.

_Definitely not good._

"How mad are you?"

He sighed. "I'm not mad at you. I'm just frustrated."

She walked next to him, and he stepped away. "Michael, I love you." It sounded like a lame thing to say, but it came out before she could stop it from coming out.

He shook his head. "I know. I know." He stood there for a few seconds, trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to say. "It's just… I get it. I get why you close up and push everyone who is trying to get close to you away. But… god, Selene, it's been two hundred years. Maybe that's not long for you, but for me, that's a _**long**_ time to put up with you closing yourself off to me. How much longer do you want me to put up with this?" Selene didn't say anything. She knew he was right. "I love you," he said sincerely, "but there's no way I can continue to stand there while you go through shit that you shouldn't have to go through alone."

She stood there, not saying a word.

He sighed heavily. "I know you're probably going through a lot right now, and me telling you this isn't helping." He turned around and walked away, then stopped. "But when you finally decide to let me in on any of that, make sure it isn't too late."

He walked out of the room.

Selene was frozen as she heard Michael's car leave the gates and drive down the road. She was losing Michael, and it was all her fault if she didn't stop it from being permanent.


	18. Some Enlightenment

After about an hour of just sitting on the couch, Selene went back to the dojo. Damien was there alone, playing target practice.

"Yeah, he's not too happy with me," she said as she collapsed on the chair nearby.

He stopped and sat down on the chair next to her. "So what now?"

She shrugged. "I honestly don't know."

Simon walked into the room. "So, I hear you two are the item now. How's Michael feel about this?"

Selene's eyebrows shot up. "Huh?" She looked over at Damien, whose head was interestingly down and avoiding eye contact. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Simon gulped. "You mean, you haven't heard the rumors?" Selene's expression gave him the obvious answer.

"There's a rumor going around that you two are sneaking around behind Mike's back."

"What?!" She turned around and faced Damien. "Did you know about this?"

He didn't answer her.

"Don't you fucking act like you didn't hear me," she snapped. "_**Did you know about this**_?"

He nodded slowly.

"Why the hell didn't you say anything? How long has this ridiculous rumor been floating around?"

Simon shrugged. "Only a couple of days, I think. Maybe less." His eyes read, "maybe more," though.

"Simon, please leave," Selene said, trying to keep control over her temper.

Simon ran so fast out of the room, there were skid marks.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Selene asked as calmly as possible.

"Would it really be _**that**_ bad?"

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

He frowned and his eyebrows wrinkled together. "Well, I just mean, I wouldn't be unhappy if we were together. You know how I feel about you."

She groaned and held her head. "And you know I love Michael. We could never be together."

"You talk to me more than you talk to him. You two lost a child and—"

She reached over and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him off the chair. "And what? I didn't talk to _**him**_ about it? Did I make a mistake by talking to you?"

"No, I'm just saying you seem to feel more at ease with me than him."

"And maybe that was my mistake, Damien." She let him go. "Maybe I didn't make it clear before, but I'm making it clear _**now**_. I love Michael. And I appreciate that you've been there for me. But if you're going to mistake companionship for love, then it looks like I'm going to have to cut out going to you whenever I feel like talking to someone."

"Selene—"

She looked away form him. "I'm going for a walk," she stated coldly. "If there are any problems, let me know."

Before Damien could say anything else, she stormed out of the room. Within minutes, she was in her car already. _Maybe being a stone-cold bitch is easier_, she thought bitterly. When she was a cutthroat warrior, she never had to worry about a lovesick Lycan or pissing off a lover.

Deep in her heart, she knew that was wrong, that she was a lot happier now than she could have ever hoped to be back then. _But it doesn't make things easier_…

She was driving with no destination, but found herself in the old safe house she and Michael had stayed in when Selene had been hiding him from Lycans, Death Dealers, and the "cops."

She went up the stairs, cringing with each creaky step on the staircase. It was abandoned now. The last person who had ever been in there, to her knowledge, had been Marcus. And that had been well over two centuries ago.

She went to the room that she had first opened herself up to Michael. Things had seemed so much simpler then. She thought that she had so much to worry about, but that was before she had to worry about Michael and Damien's feelings.

As soon as she went in, she sensed another presence. At first, she couldn't quite tell who it was, but then it hit her: _**Erika**_.

"Erika?"

She heard sniffling. "Daisy?" she amended.

"Yeah?" came a hoarse voice.

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Men are such assholes," was her response.

"I have to agree with you there," she murmured. "But why are you _**here**_?"

"Because this is the only place I can be **alone**." She turned away form the broken window, broken so many years ago. Her face was streaked with tears, and her eyes were swollen.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a way that sounded sincere, but you could tell she didn't give a shit about what the answer was.

"Marc is such a prick," she wailed. "Why do I always fall for the pricks?"

"I wouldn't say 'always'.. actually, yeah, I would." She had to admit, seeing someone else in man troubles made her feel a little better.

"Fuck you, you bitch," she spat. Another tear rolled down her cheeks.

"What did he do?" she asked in the same tone she did before.

"It's _**you**_." She stood up and walked closer to Selene. Selene didn't move, she just stood in one place and gave Daisy a bored look. She had done this for the whole thirty years she spent with **Erika** before her whole life changed, and apparently, old habits died hard.

"Me?"

"He's fucking obsessed with killing _**you**_. That's all I hear about. When I eat, when I sleep, when I'm kissing him, when I'm on the fucking toilet for God's sakes, that's all I hear. 'Oh, just you wait, when Selene least expects it…' 'That damned Selene and her Michael…' 'That vampire bitch Selene will get it…' It's all I hear from him!"

"I don't get it, didn't you know this about him when you let him stay with you?"

"Yeah, but I thought he'd change."

Selene had to try not to laugh in the naïve girl's face. "Things are the same now as they were before. They haven't changed. He expects the same things from you as he always had—"

Just then, it hit her. **Michael. **Michael had always expected her to open up. Even that first night, in this safe house, he had asked her to open up and tell her about her past. Then he had her say those three words – 'I love you' – to his face and to him in public. He had expected her to do so many things that were large to her, but small when she thought of it now. In all two hundred years, all he had wanted from her was to simply show him that she cared about him. And she acted as if that was so much to ask.

"Hello? Selene?" Daisy was waving her hand in front of Selene's face. "You were saying…?"

Selene gave her a blank look.

Daisy sighed. "Whatever. I thought being the leader of the Death Dealers would fun, cool. But it's not. It's hard."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." She sat down, and Daisy sat down next to her.

"I always thought you were a bitch."

"The feeling was mutual, believe me."

Daisy laughed. "But you're not that bad."

Selene smiled. "Yeah, I think you might actually have a brain in that thick skull of yours."

She chuckled, then looked down. "You gonna kill me?"

Selene thought. "No."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "I've killed enough vampires for one night, I think."

"Daniel?"

"Yep."

"So you're just gonna let me go?"

"Pretty much."

"Thanks," Daisy said.

She began to walk out the way Selene had come in.

"Thank you, too," Selene said.

Daisy stopped and turned around. "For what?"

"Just for helping me in something I needed to sort out."

Puzzled, Daisy turned around and left anyway.

_Really, Erika… Daisy… thank you._


	19. All She Needed

Basically, right afterward, Selene returned back to Nueva Esperanza. Michael was still out for a walk, and wasn't picking up his cell phone. _Surprise, surprise…_

Selene walked back to the dojo, and found that Damien was still there.

"I wanted to talk to you," Damien said, not looking up.

"Shoot," Selene said. For a second, she marveled at how her "language" had changed over the last couple of centuries. She had never thought that, in the 2200s, she'd be saying things like, "shoot," instead of "go ahead and talk."

"I love you."

Selene regarded him neutrally. "Mmhmm," she said flatly.

"But it's obvious you don't feel the same abut me. Or, if you do, not as much."

Selene didn't say anything. The truth was, she _**did**_ love him, but not enough to leave Michael. It would never be enough to leave Michael.

"This isn't going anywhere, is it?"

"What isn't going anywhere?"

"Us. This relationship. It will always be me cracking the jokes, you coming to me to talk about something and ask for advice, and that's it."

Selene looked down.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." He sounded sad, and it broke Selene's heart, but she had to nip it in the bud. Better for her to shoot down his feelings now than later, when it was too late.

Selene's cell phone rang – it was Michael.

She picked it up on the third ring, unsure of how he would be on the phone.

"Hello?" He didn't sound as irate as he had when she'd left him. That was a good sign.

"Hi," she said back.

"Look," he sighed, "can we talk?"

"Sure," Selene replied, happier now that Michael didn't seem to be ready to strangle her. _I would_. "Where?"

"Remember that pier where Corvinus was when Marcus found us?"

_The one where you died_… "Yeah."

"That's where I am."

"Okay."

"See ya."

"I love you."

Michael paused. "I love you, too," he said warmly, and hung up.

She looked back to where Damien had been standing, but he had left the room sometime during her conversation with Michael. _Great_, she thought sarcastically.

_I guess you can't have your cake and eat it, too_.

Selene went to the garage and drove back out of Nueva Esperanza. _I seem to be doing a lot of traveling today_…

Her mind wandered to Damien. She felt bad about having to drop him like that, but he had this false hope that one day Selene would wake up and run away with him. Sometimes she _**did**_ thing that life might be better with Damien. He always made her laugh, and never pressured her, after all. She always felt at ease with him. Just as she had with Leon.

_Leon_.

Now _**there**_ was someone she hadn't thought of for a few days. Leon had always been 'the One' to Selene, before she met Michael. But when she met Michael, every memory of Leon being her soul mate was gone. What was it about Michael that had made her fall so fast?

He had saved her life. No one who wasn't a Death Dealer had done that before. No _human_ had ever done that before, either. It was hard for her to ever think of a time where she didn't feel safe around her fellow warriors.

Even around the Death Dealers, Selene never felt _**safe**_. She trusted them, like she knew they wouldn't stab her in the back. But she was never comforted by their presence. Vampires, for some odd reason, were always distant with each other. You could never tell what one was thinking. They could be smiling and planning how to best rip your throat out, or be frowning and thinking of a joke. A vampire never cried, either – especially not a Death Dealer.

Selene remembered once, when one of the Death Dealers she had gone through 'training' with had been torn apart in front of her by a Lycan. His name was Kyle, and he always had those kind of eyes that could see right through you.

That night, Selene went back with his mangled corpse. She had tears in her eyes when she gave the body to Kahn. And what had he done? Been sympathetic? Been _**compassionate**_?

Selene smirked as she thought about his reaction.

"_What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you crying over his goddamn death?"_

Selene had been forced to suppress her emotions for six centuries. Kahn had a sense of humor, but no compassion. Vampires lost that quickly.

Then Michael had come along. For the first time, she was able to _feel_ her family's wrongful death. She had been able to mourn for a fallen comrade's death – Michael's. She had been able to laugh and smile, and act_**human**_ for once.

That was why she had fallen so fast for Michael. He showed her that there was still a human side of her. The side that was not dead, not yet. The side that could love again, an emotion she had lost so long ago.

He was so _**human**_. And he loved her. That was all she needed.

Michael was all she needed.

* * *

A/N:

Aplogies, I realize this story is taking me a while. School is such a hassle.

Plus, Safari doesn't lemme do this AUTHOR'S NOTE thing... I finally got around to downloading FireFox.

Hope you're enjoying yourself.

KATEB819


	20. Déjà vu

Selene arrived not too long later. Sunrise had not yet arrived. She spotted Michael right away.

He turned around when he felt her coming. "Well, hello there."

"Hi."

An awkward silence followed.

"Selene," he said. "I don't even know what to say."

"Me neither," she admitted. Then, an alarm inside of her went off. It was weird, but she suddenly felt like the two of them were in imminent danger.

"Selene?" he could sense her worry, even though she tried not to show it. She always tried to hide her worries until it was time to voice them, but he was always able to tell how she was feeling.

"I… uh… Do you sense that?"

"No, I—" Michael interrupted himself. "Shit. Yeah, I do."

Immediately afterward, someone started firing away at Selene. She rolled out of the way, but took a couple bullets in the arm. Michael took one in the leg. They both leapt off the pier and into the water below.

Their heads came bobbing back up, both gasping for air. The water was _**cold**_.

Without saying a word, they both headed for the same place. Three vampires dropped in the water in front of them. They all had scuba gear and stayed submerged.

Suddenly, Selene was pulled under. Each of them had a firm grip on her legs and were pulling her down into the depths of the frigid water. She tried to kick free, but they held fast. Michael inhaled deeply and went down after them.

He panicked as he saw Selene hadn't even gotten a chance to get much air before those bastards pulled her under. She was struggling to stay conscious, never mind fighting free.

Michael went down further, gaining on them. One of the vampires, fed up with Selene resisting, smacked her hard across the face enough to make her black out for a second.

Selene forced herself to open her eyes again, but Michael could see her slipping back into unconsciousness. He dove after her faster, and caught up with her capturers. He snapped two of the three's necks, and pulled the skull right off the remaining one. By the time he grabbed a hold of Selene, however, she had already depleted her supply of oxygen and was out for the count.

Michael brought the both of them to the surface. His lungs were burning for oxygen; he couldn't imagine how Selene had lasted as long as she had. He brought the both of them to beneath the pier and laid her down on the ground. It seemed to be a repeat of their first night together. _Déjà vu_...

Michael started to get ready to perform CPR on her, but this time, Selene regained consciousness before he had to.

Selene sat up and coughed up some water. "Wow," Michael remarked, "you're getting better at this."

Selene chuckled, and spit up some more water in the process. Before they were able to relax, however, more Death Dealers broke through the pier and onto the ground to where Selene and Michael were.

_Will this never end?_ Selene wondered. She dove out of the way and smacked two of their heads together, but there was at least a dozen. Worse, most of them had guns.

Three opened fire on Selene, while the others were occupied with Michael. Michael was now in full-hybrid mode, and tearing off limbs. But he was getting overwhelmed, she could tell. One bullet grazed her forehead, while another embedded itself in her chest.

Selene ignored the pain and plunged her fist into the chest of a Death Dealer. It had bothered her, at first that she was killing her own kind and perhaps people she may have fought alongside with in the past. But Selene quickly learned to get over that moral qualm when she realized that if she didn't fight back, she'd be on the losing end of the battle. She realized it was necessary to kill her old allies, since they were her current enemies. _Like Danny…_

Selene felt a pang of regret over his death, but shoved it down as another bullet pushed its way into her flesh, right in her stomach area.

Pissed off, Selene broke the vampire's nose with a flick of the wrist and wrenched his head off. She glanced over to Michael, and realized that he was becoming outnumbered fast. She couldn't do anything about it, since another half dozen Death Dealers leapt between her and Michael._What the hell is this, the whole fucking Hungarian army?_

One took a cheap shot at her and knocked her to the ground. Another stomped down hard on her shoulder, and Selene heard something crack. Selene screamed out in pain as the sickening noise reached her ears. Michael looked up at the sound, and worry filled his eyes.

Selene tripped the vampire and lobbed his body at another vampire with one arm, knocking him down. She leapt over a Death Dealer that tried to kick her and knocked his skull against one of the pier's columns, and it cracked open. She grabbed another one that lunged at her with one hand and stuck her foot in his face. She pushed against his head until it tore away from the body.

More and more were coming, and they had all given up on physical violence, resorting to gunfire. A couple more bullets lodged themselves in Selene's arms.

_I don't know how much more I can take this…_

Selene looked over to Michael. He wasn't hurt, but he was tiring out quickly; he had almost twice the amount of adversaries as she did.

Michael was pushed all the way to where Selene was.

"I guess we're not gonna get our talk today, huh?" Selene snapped another vampire's neck by holding it in one arm and twisting.

Michael made a funny noise in his throat that sounded like a laugh. In spite of the fact that he had been a hybrid for two centuries, he still could not form words, or make human sounds. He imploded a vampire's face with once hard punch, and shattered the ribcage of another with a powerful kick.

One sadistic Death Dealer fired a bullet into Selene's leg. When she fell from the pain, he came over and plunged a knife deep into the wound. The bullet popped out the other side, and Selene could no longer stand.

Michael was on his own now as Selene crawled pitifully to a corner. Suddenly, Selene realized in all the bloodshed, the sun had risen. She looked at Michael, and at the same moment he seemed to realize the same thing. He ran into the water, and leapt on top of the pier. The vampires didn't realize that the sun had risen, however, and they all fried.

Michael turned back into his human form and ran to Selene's aid.

"I-I'm—"

"If you say that you're fine," Michael interrupted, "I'll pick up one of the abandoned guns and shoot you myself." He grinned at her.

Selene laughed in spite of her current state of pain.

But the respite was cut short. Marc showed up. Being a Lycan, the sunlight had absolutely no effect on him. He injected the paralyzing solution into Michael before either of them realized what was going on, and just like that Michael was useless.

Selene tried to do something, _**anything**_, but couldn't. In an instant, Marc shot a futuristic kind of dart at her. The dart had a sharp edge and sent enough electric currents through something to take down the largest Lycan.

Selene took the hit in the chest and within a couple of seconds, was unconscious and painfully so. Michael watched helplessly as Marc carried the both of them back to a van and drove off.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Hello, my loyal readers. (If I did a head-count right now, there'd probably be like, 2 or 3 of you... lol)**

**As usual thanks for reading, and any comments at all would be useful. Sincerest apologies about the delaybetween chapters, but I've had to deal with some personal issues... yeah, let's just leave it there.**

**Pleasure writing as usual,**

**KATEB819**


	21. Playing by Marc's Rules Now

Selene slowly woke up, accompanied by a pounding headache. Every part of her body screamed when she opened her eyes, so she closed them again for a few seconds, and then opened them slowly. All of her wounds had remained untreated; her wounds had closed with the bullets still inside, she could feel them. Dried blood caked her clothes, and her head throbbed with each beat of her heart.

She looked around, wincing at the pain. Her chest was in the most pain, as she dimly recalled that Marc had shot her with some sort of dart.

_Marc!_

Selene focused in the dark room, and made out a vague figure nearby.

"Michael?" Her own voice was alien to her, hoarse and soft.

She heard rustling. "Oh, Selene, thank God! I thought he sent you into a coma with that shot."

His voice sent pangs through her body; her whole body was still vulnerable.

"Selene?"

"Yeah," Selene forced herself to say. One of the restraints was over a bullet wound, which added to the enormous amount of pain she was in. She it her lower lip to stop from grunting in pain.

But Michael knew her, and was probably able to see her, too. "Shit, how bad is it?"

"I'll live." Whining about how much pain she was in would do her no good.

"Awake, at last." Marc walked smugly into the room. He flicked the light switch, brightening up the gloomy quarters. Selene gasped at the sudden light. "I was afraid I killed you."

Selene looked over to Michael, her eyes telling him to turn into a Hybrid.

"Oh, don't bother," Marc commented, noting her glance. "I've given him an enzyme – a powerful one, at that – so he's been rendered useless.

_Shit,_ Selene cursed inwardly. _Why don't I like where this is going…?_

He pulled up a chair and sat down on it, facing her. He had a smarmy look on his face; it made Selene want to slap him into the next century.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Selene asked.

He sighed. "Why do I hate you so much…" He paused, his eyes flashing with fury and hate and anger and a million other things at the same time. "Did it ever occur to you to try and sign a damn peace treaty?"

"What?"

"I was around for a while, you know," he snapped. "Maybe not as long as _**you**_ but long enough to realize that once a ruler is not planning on calling it quits, they're _**never**_ planning to."

"I'm not."

"Why do so many have to die simply because you're stubborn? Lucian was the same way—"

"Then why did you have Lucian on your side?"

Marc dug his finger deep into one of Selene's bullet wounds. Selene gasped in pain. "Don't interrupt me," he ordered sternly.

"Got it," Selene quipped.

Michael growled next to her.

Marc continued with his rant. "Lucian spent 600 years on a war he could've ended easily. He could have brought us over to the United States, or any other godforsaken country. No; he stays _**here**_, for us to be slaughtered for six centuries. Then the war ends, and I finally think, _wow the bloodshed may be over_… And it's not. Because our new leader, _**you**_, decide that it's a great fuckin' idea to stay at war. So now more immortals die, and for what? **For **_**what**_?"

"Why didn't you _say something_?"

"I shouldn't have to, that's my point. The first thing you thought of was starting up another goddamn war."

"No, it wasn't. We asked the American Coven for peace, and they denied it, calling Michael an abomination. Then they tried to kill us. You know that."

"And after you killed all the prominent leaders? After you killed Kahn? Why didn't you stop it after Daisy was handed power?"

"Because Erika only cares about Erika. She wouldn't have ended the war unless there was a big prize for her at the end of it."

"Fuck you. Her name is _**Daisy**_."

"Daisy is a pussy, shitty name. Her name was and is Erika, and the fact that you refuse to acknowledge her past says a lot." She stared his straight in the eyes. "What's it about her, Marc? Is it because she's hot, and she's one of those girls that are so pretty and other guys envy you? That why you picked her? Or is it the power? That she's in a place of influence?"

Marc punched her hard enough to force a gasp from Selene's lips.

"Shut up."

"She's right, isn't she?" Daisy walked into the room.

Marc turned around. His voice went from a harsh, bitter tone to a pleasant, cooing one. "_Honey_," he stretched out, "I thought I told you to wait until I was done dealing with these two."

"Well, I got tired of waiting," she snapped. She looked at Selene, and Selene could detect a sense of annoyance at Marc.

"You're just going to have to be patient."

"How much more patient do I have to be?"

"For as long as I say so."

Daisy didn't say anything else. _Things haven't changed much since her days with Kraven, I see…_ Selene was a bit disappointed in Erika. She would have thought by now, either Daisy or Erika would have thought to fight back.

Daisy sat and sulked in a corner, crossing her arms. _Like that'll do any good…_

Selene sighed inwardly in frustration.

"What's the matter, Marc? Is the expiration date on Daisy's obedience coming soon?" Marc gave up on hitting Selene and just glared at her with cool eyes. Selene returned with her own leveling glare.

"I have a plan," Marc finally said. "Something that will give me some entertainment, I think."

"What kind of plan?" Michael demanded. He was trying to fight his restraints, but without his Hybrid strength, the attempts were all made in vain.

"I've got a few Death Dealers here who would like nothing more than to kill Selene. And I would like nothing more than to give them that chance."

"Marc, what are you planning?" The question came from Daisy's lips. She seemed genuinely worried. Selene could see why; neither Erika nor Daisy were the warrior type, no matter how hard they tried to be. The apathy towards inflicting pain did not come, if at all, naturally to either one of them.

"Mommy and Daddy are talking, Daisy. Stay out of it." Marc was becoming irritated.

Daisy sat quietly and kept her mouth shut once again.

"A fight to the death," he announced. "Fight all the Death Dealers that want a piece of you and live, and you win your life. If you should lose…" he grinned maliciously, "then you're dead, aren't you?"

Michael looked over to Selene. "We can do this."

"There is no 'we,'" Marc said smugly. "It will be Selene doing it alone."

Michael became enraged. "Fuck you! This is impossible! There is no way—"

Marc backhanded Michael and, in one fluid motion, drew his gun and shot Selene in the shoulder. Selene cried out in both surprise and pain.

Michael shut up immediately.

"Keep quiet, doggy," Marc snapped at Michael. "You are playing by _**my**_ rules now. If you don't like them, tough shit."

"Wait," Daisy said. She seemed to be fighting between talking Marc out of this whole crazy thing and asking him something about it. She picked the latter. "So Selene's on her own? She's wounded and has to fight our guys by herself?"

"Is there something I missed?" he asked impatiently.

"No," Daisy said uneasily, but was not eager to incur his wrath.

Marc unlocked Selene from her chains, only to put her in handcuffs. He threw her in a large room and shut the big, reinforced door and locked it. She could still hear Michael calling out her name in panic.

_This is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into_, she told herself.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Thanks to:**

**- vampire-luvr **

**- londonvixen**

**- choksantos**

**- peterparker11939**

**- xXxUnReQuitEdxXx**

**and, of course, Matthew316 for reading and commenting about my story. Thanks a lot for the feedbacks, critiques, and any other comments that you've made in helping me with my writing. Hello to all of you over at IMDb and LtU.**

**God knows when th next one will be up. Just hang around until then, I guess...**

**KATEB819 **


	22. Trial and Error

A key came flying down from the broken skylight above her head. It was the key to her handcuffs.

It was night now; Selene had been knocked out by that dart for the whole day. Selene shivered a bit – the loss of blood was definitely not helping. Selene couldn't help but feel very tired, but she knew that she needed to do everything in her power to live through this sadistic trial Marc had planned for her.

Selene slowly unlocked her handcuffs, examining her surroundings. There were plenty of crates that were bigger and wider than her. If she worked it right, she could conceal herself. Selene felt herself change into her immortal self, her eyes becoming an electric cobalt and her fangs sharpening and growing longer. Her senses were on edge; tired or not, she was ready to fight to the death.

From the skylight, five Death Dealers leapt down behind her. She didn't recognize any of them, which she was relieved about. She dodged two of her assailants, and snapped the neck of one. She knocked two back with a roundhouse kick and broke the nose on a third one. She pushed one of the remaining into the other, and stepped on one of their necks until she heard a crack. She hurled the last one into a wall, and when the body landed, it wasn't moving anymore.

Eight Death Dealers jumped in. Selene had no idea how long she could hold her own or how she would get out of this fight alive. She was alone and scared, even though she refused to show it.

The wall where she had hurled the last Death Dealer was cracked. Then she got an idea. The process of completing it would take a long time, but it was the only thing she could think of.

One of the Death Dealers surged forward, and Selene stealthily maneuvered out of the way, then grabbed him by his arm and threw him into the door. The door was made of a very durable metal, and the impact of the body didn't so much as make a dent. _Strength in numbers, though_, Selene thought as she dodged another blow.

As long as she conserved her energy for her plan, she would make it out of this room, and not in a body bag. Another three Death Dealers charged her, but she jumped high in the air. When gravity seized her, she used to force to land on two of them, and they fell to the ground. She hit the last with her palm with all of her might into the door, and there was now a tiny dent. She threw the other two into the door as well. A bigger dent resulted.

A large Death Dealer jumped into the room. He was easily seven feet tall and was probably 300 pounds, at least. If he sat on Selene long enough, chances were he would crush her.

He punched her in the face; it felt like a wrecking ball connected with her face. The blow sent Selene flying into the air and landed with a loud thud. He came up and kicked Selene up into the air eight feet, and caught her on her way down. She kicked him in the face, but he held onto her. He threw her forward into the wall. Then he came up to her and kicked her hard across her face. He picked her up in one hand around the waist and shot her up into the air so far that she hit the ceiling and plunged back down and landed on the floor.

Selene could barely stand. The Death Dealer laughed heartily and approached her. Selene's survival instincts kicked in, and she rose in spite of fatigue and broken bones. She dodged his punch. He may have power behind his punch, but his agility and speed were lacking. He growled and made another pathetic attempt to hit Selene, but she dodged him effortlessly. He put all of the might behind his punch, and Selene dodged the 300-pound man. He was getting tired, she could see; he was huffing and puffing, looking winded, and his fat was shaking. He made a few more pitiful tries to attack her, and seemed to give up after that. Selene simply punched his face into the skull.

Selene picked up the corpse, using a bit more energy than she had to with the others, and lobbed him towards the door. He smashed into it, and a large dent emerged. _Yes_!

The door even started to bulge outward.

Both fortunately and unfortunately, three more Death Dealers made their way into the room. One hissed and leapt at her prematurely. In his haste, he didn't even aim at who he was attacking, and wound up landing on top of a crate on his stomach. Selene pulled him off roughly and grabbed the vampire's skull in both hands. She squeezed until she heard a loud crack and brain matter leaked out through the fracture.

The other two, visually disturbed by what just happened to their ally, thought twice before attacking her head-on. They both ran off, taking sanctuary among the crates. Selene groaned softly in frustration; the last thing she wanted to do at that moment was play a cat-and-mouse game with these two. _But so be it_.

She leapt high above the crates. She considered leaving through the way her adversaries were entering, through a skylight in the ceiling, but it was sealed and covered with a door. The only way to get in would have been to unlock the door on the ceiling (or, in her case, break the lock) and then break through the bulletproof glass. Not to mention, who knows who was waiting for her on the other side of the glass.

She closed her eyes and focused on any vampiric scents. The oddness of the situation struck her suddenly. A couple centuries earlier, she would have been focusing on any Lycan scent; now she was searching for her own kind's scent.

She found it with little to no problem, but it was too late. One vampire made its move and tackled Selene to the ground. Selene rolled with the attack and landed on her feet nimbly. The other vampire flipped head over heels, and even though he landed on his back, he rolled with the impact and sprang up on his feet.

He tried to punch Selene, but she backed away from her assailant. Instinct and a supernatural feeling told her that her other opponent was behind her, trying to take advantage of Selene's situation of being outnumbered. She ducked, and the stupid vampire wound up punching his own ally. The other vampire reeling back from the unexpected punch, Selene took the opportunity to snap his neck. She whirled around and leapt over a kick she knew the Death Dealer would try, and retaliated with a kick to his face. The vampire's head snapped back hard enough to crack loudly, and the last vampire was dead.

Selene stood there, trying to control her breathing. She looked around; there were no vampires left. She figured as much, too – she had already taken down seventeen vampires. Ignoring a very strong urge to sit down and sleep for a few years, Selene picked up her last two bodies and threw them against the door, too. The door bulged out more, enough for Selene to be able to break it right off its hinges with one forceful kick. Selene put all her power behind the kick, and the door toppled over.

Selene looked around at the room she had been in; it was vacant. They must have figured that she'd be killed by one of those Death Dealers eventually and left. Selene sat down and almost gave up. How could she figure out where they had taken Michael, now? Then a familiar scent reached her nostrils. _Michael_. His scent, which was as familiar to her as her own, filled her nose as Selene inhaled deeply. There probably wasn't much, but it was more than enough for Selene to trace.

Selene followed the scent down a narrow hallway and up a staircase. Selene could hear voices from the second room on her left, and made out Marc's.

"…hoping is useless, Michael," she heard him say.

Following her cue, Selene walked in. She probably looked like hell – she sure felt like it. Blood was still leaking out of several wounds, her clothes were caked with blood – blood that was hers and blood that wasn't – and she felt like her whole body was a large bruise. Several bones were broken – it was a miracle that she was still standing.

All the heads looked up. Michael's eyes widened in amazement, Marc's widened in horror, Daisy's widened in admiration, and the rest of the Death Dealers' widened in a mixture of terror and wonder.

"I guess it's not that useless after all," Selene retorted.

"You should be dead," Marc stated bitterly.

"But she's not," Daisy commented, amused. "What now, honey?"

Selene could see that Marc never took into consideration what would happen if the Death Dealers had not killed Selene.

"Yeah, Marc. What now?"

Without blinking, Marc took his gun out of its holster and aimed it at Selene. Selene didn't have time to react; fatigue was seeping in and her reflexes were shot.

"No!" Daisy screamed.

_Score one for Erika,_ Selene thought.

"Daisy, sweetie," Marc said slowly and evenly, "kindly shut the fuck up."

Daisy got up and stood between Selene and Marc.

"Her name," Selene said calmly, "is Erika. Not Daisy."

"Marc, this ends now."

"_**Erika**_," Marc snapped. "Get out of the way." _He actually cares about her,_ Selene realized.

"Marc," Erika said quietly. "How much longer do we have to do this? Selene is here now. I'm sure she'd agree to _**some**_ sort of peaceful or more peaceful situation. We don't have to do this." Selene was a bit surprised; she didn't think Erika had it in her to fight against any one of her lovers.

"Erika." He glared at her coldly. His eyes were filled with such anger it even sent chills down Selene's spine.

"No," she said firmly. "I won't take this any more, Marc. This has to end now. If it doesn't—"

Marc shot her. Erika collapsed to the floor, dead.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Extreme apologies for the delay to everyone. I am so sorry... apparently HS is kicking my ass, lol. I'm STILL working on homework...**

**As for the story, GOD knows when I'll get around to starting the next chapter. I sure hope you enjoyed this one, though. Feedback welcome and encouraged...**

**As a heads up, I'm running low on fresh ideas for another story, so after I finish this story, it might be my last Uw story. I know, I'm sorry...**

**Thanks for reading,**

**KATEB819 **


	23. She'll Be Okay

Selene gaped at Marc. He had just shot the love of his life dead in cold blood. A chill ran down Selene's spine as she realized that once, centuries ago when she had been a cold-blooded killer, she might have done the same thing without a second thought.

It didn't surprise her when Marc acted nonchalant about what he had just done. "I told that girl that running her mouth would get her in trouble some day," he said coolly. His eyes betrayed a hint of sadness, but his face was otherwise a mask, dead as his late lover.

Selene looked down at a tray near her. She began to ignore what as on it entirely, but then a particular dart caught her attention. It was one of the ones that had been used to paralyze her not too long ago.

Moving with speed faster than light, Selene swooped up the dart and shot it at Marc. It hit its mark and entered into his neck.

He pulled it out, his eyes wide with shock. His guards acted too late and drew their guns. They all took aim and shot, but Selene leapt high into the air, clinging onto the ceiling. All of the vampires looked up to search for her, but she moved with such agility that they couldn't find her. Not giving them a chance to discover her, she swooped down from the ceiling and tackled down two of the five men. The other three took aim and shot their guns, but Selene picked up their allies and used them as shields. He felt and heard life leave their bodies as they fell to the ground in a bloody mess.

In one fluid motion, she grabbed her Fate Plate, surprised they hadn't take it from her when she was unconscious. Luckily, she had concealed it in an area they hadn't thought to look. She activated it quickly, and hurled it. It took off one of the Death Dealers' heads, then came boomeranging back to take off another one's head.

The last one wasn't sure what to do, and picked up one of his fallen adversaries' guns and fired it at Selene. She dodged the shots by rolling on the ground toward him and sliced open the vampire with her FP, halving him vertically.

All of the vampires were dead, except Marc, who was lying motionless on the ground. Selene glanced down at him coldly. The paralyzing liquid had taken affect in this mayhem, and Selene was glad at that.

"I don't know what happened to you, Marc," Selene said quietly, kneeling next to him. "I respected you; I thought you respected me." Her voice cracked a bit and she took a deep breath. Her next sentence came out flat and emotionless, but cold and frigid at the same time. "But know that after what I'm about to do, I won't lose a wink of sleep."

She picked up one of the deceased Death Dealers' guns and pressed it hard against his forehead. All the anger from what he had put her through fueled her resolution. A tear rolled down his cheek.

"Too late," she said bitterly, and pulled the trigger. She held it down as bullets pushed their way through his flesh and into his skull. Blood and brain matter flew everywhere, but Selene didn't so much as blink. She kept her finger on the trigger, even after the clip had emptied. Marc was dead, but Selene didn't care.

Finally, Michael softly said, "Selene."

Letting go of the trigger, Selene dropped the gun and searched Marc's pockets, eventually finding the key to the locks that held Michael in his seat. She quickly unlocked the bondages. He reached out for her, but she stepped away and picked up the gun again.

"It's all this asshole's fault," she muttered, walking toward Marc.

"Selene," Michael said lamely, unsure of what to do.

"He is the reason for everything," she continued, even though she knew it wasn't true. He walked right up to his corpse, empty gun in hand. "Why?" she asked to no one in particular. Her eyes flashing in fury, she smashed the gun against his open skull. Tears welled up in her eyes as everything she ever held back, everything from the grief from her slaughtered family to the loss of the child she would never bear. She smacked him again. "_Why_?"

Michael stood there and watched her silently.

Tears, both old and new rolled down her cheeks. The internal wounds stinging more than the visible ones, she pounded Marc's body harder than ever, putting ever ounce of strength into it. The gun smashed into a million pieces.

Selene cried now, sobs escaping her lips between heaving gasps. She collapsed to her knees, the weight of all her sadness falling on top of her.

Michael fell to his knees next to her, holding her in his arms.

"I'm not okay," she wailed. "I'm not okay."

He kissed her hair, stroking her cheek. "I'm here," he whispered to her soothingly.

Tears were gushing out now, as Selene clung to Michael as her only anchor to Earth. She was wailing, gripping onto Michael, as if she would never be herself again if she let go.

"_**Why**_?"

Michael didn't have to ask her what she was questioning; he knew. She was questioning _**all**_ the things that had happened to her. He could read her mind:

_Why was my family slaughtered? Why was I lied to? Why was I picked to end an old way, only to start a new war that might never end? Why was my innocent child slain? Why is it so hard to trust anyone? Why is it so hard to live?_

Michael wished he could give her answers, but alas, there were no answers to give.

"I love you," he spoke to her softly.

Selene's sobs had subsided a bit, and her tears were not rushing down her cheeks as rapidly. "I love you, Michael. Oh my God, I love you so much."

He held her, caressing her. "I know," he said.

"Michael, I don't want to lose you," she whispered. "Please, don't let me lose you," she said, holding Michael closer to her.

He wasn't surprised she had such a meltdown; she had held it for so long, it was only a matter of time.

"You won't lose me," he promised. "I'm here."

She was still shaking from her uncontrolled crying, but it was not as violent as before.

He hugged her tightly, not letting go until sleep finally claimed her.

He carried her back, his hybrid strength slowly returning with each step.

Michael watched her as she slept in his arms, no longer a shell of who she was.


	24. Epilogue

The next day, Selene woke up to an empty room. _At least it's my empty __**bedroom**_, she thought to herself as she got dressed. She took a long shower, washing away the muck, dirt, and blood of the events. It felt like a dream, but the pain made her realize that it was real.

Feeling much more relieved, both from her shower and clean clothes as well as finally letting go of all her pain, Selene made it down to the dojo. Michael was probably watching re-runs of his favorite show _Felicity_ in the dojo, or in the break room. The dojo was closer, so she tried that first. She was puzzled to what she walked into. It was Damien packing up his DVD player.

"Did I miss something?" she asked, confused.

He looked up, then avoided her eyes and went right back to packing.

"Hello?" she asked when he didn't answer. "Planet Selene to Planet Damien…"

"Planet Damien is spinning out of orbit for a while," he said quietly.

Hoping that this did not translate to what she thought it did, she said, "Huh?"

He sighed, zipping up his bag for the DVD player. "I can't do this anymore, Selene," he said sadly. He plopped down on the couch.

"What's going on, Amie?" she asked, sitting next to him.

"I'm leaving," he stated bluntly. "I can't stay here if it's gonna be like this."

"Like _what_?"

"I can't be your confidant, and then every time I want more, I just wind up being the guy you go to when you need to vent. I can't."

Selene started to object with something like, _But you're not_, or, _Yes you can_, but she knew that it was wrong. Damien had made up his mind, and there was no changing it.

He stood up and faced her, his eyes sad but certain.

"How long?" she asked, unable to come up with anything else.

"I don't know," he confessed.

"Where are you going to go?"

"I'm going with the Stealth Shooters in the UK. Couldn't hurt, you know?"

She flashed a smile. "What about all the Hollywood gossip?" she asked.

He smiled back at her. "I'll live without it." He started out the door, his smile fading.

"Bye, Amie," Selene said, wondering if she'd see him again.

"Bye, Selene, 'my love,'" he said, saluting. "Tell Mike that I'll see you guys again sometime."

Not willing to let their farewell go without one last good-humored remark, Selene called after him, "I heard Britney and Jamie are pregnant again, this time by the same guy."

She couldn't see him, but she knew he was smiling. And damn it, she was, too.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Well, that's all she wrote, lol.**

**Once again, thanks to every single one of my readers and a special thank you to all of you that let me know what you thought. Thanks to my pals over LYCAN THE UNDERWORLD, especially Matt for helping me out.**

**Like I said, I'm out of ideas for the time being, so that's all the Uw fanfics I'll have... for now. Wait until inspiration hits me, I guess.**

**Thanks so much for sticking with me this far, all of you...**

**KATEB819 **


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